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Nikola Tesla and the Power of the Tides

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Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time “Many a deluded inventor has spent years of his life in endeavoring to harness the tides.” – Nikola Tesla

Anyone who has seen the tidal surge in the Bay of Fundy can envision the potential of harnessing the natural power of tides for electricity generation. And today some people are doing just that.

The basic principle is simple. Depending on where you are on the planet, either once or twice each day there is a rise and fall of ocean water we call tides. For any given location this ebb and flow is highly predictable; tide tables can be printed up years in advance. It is possible to build reservoirs to capture the water in rising tides, then during low tide allow that water to flow downward through power plants to generate electricity.

The most common mechanism for harnessing tidal energy is the tidal barrage, which looks like a dam or the locks in canals. Incoming tidal water is allowed to move freely upstream. At peak high tide the barriers are closed and the water shunted through turbines. Another modern option would be to set fixed direct drive turbines underwater in areas with large tidal flows. Other more speculative methods include building what in essence is a “tidal reef,” vertical-axis turbines, and even something called “push plates.” The benefit of tidal power, which Tesla would have appreciated, is that once the system is built the energy would be free, predictable, and naturally renewable. On the down side, which Tesla would also appreciate from experience, the initial development and construction is very expensive.

During Tesla’s time there were some engineers who looked at the potential of tidal-generated power with favor. Tesla was not one of them. In fact, he was rather disdainful in his dismissal of the attempts. “Many a deluded inventor has spent years of his life in endeavoring to harness the tides, and some have even proposed to compress air by tide or wave power for supplying energy,” he snorted. With an estimated “little more than one horsepower” possible over an acre of ground, Tesla felt that a “wave or tide motor would have but small chance of competing commercially” with other natural sources of energy. So here Tesla was in agreement with Lord Kelvin, one of the world’s most respected scientists during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who had stated that “the tides cannot furnish any power worth speaking of.”

Tesla may have been correct in his assessment. Today, tidal power has been employed only in a small number of locations around the world. The first was located in La Rance, France; the largest is in South Korea. Prospective sites where tidal power would be financially feasible in the United States are few and while countries such as China, France, the UK, Canada and Russia may have greater number of feasible sites, until recently not much has been done to utilize this form of renewable energy.

In the end, Tesla was convinced that only “in exceptional locations can the power of the tides be profitably developed.” He would leave tidal power development for others to pursue. Tesla had other renewable resources on his mind.

[Adapted from my e-book, Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time, available on Amazon]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln and the McCormick Reaper

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One of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous cases is one in which he never actually tried. On my second Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour I made an unplanned stop at the McCormick Farm, now part of the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

As populations grew the need for improved crop yields increased, and the mechanical reaper made that possible. Cyrus McCormick had invented a reaper that became the gold standard and stimulated others to “borrow” his ideas. McCormick sued rival John Manny for patent infringement, accusing him of stealing the McCormick reaper design. Manny’s lawyers called in Lincoln because of his jury skills and his local presence in Illinois, but then the case was transferred to the district court in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lincoln spent considerable time preparing for the case and writing a technical brief, but when he arrived in Cincinnati he was shocked to learn that an esteemed Ohio lawyer, Edwin Stanton, had been hired and his own services were no longer needed. Worse, Stanton treated Lincoln poorly, writing him off as a hick western lawyer of little value. While angry at being tossed out of what he thought was his case, Lincoln turned it into an educational experience, watching the trial and learning a great deal about how more classically educated eastern lawyers worked a case.

The era of farm mechanization had begun, and Lincoln the President later relied on his experience to push for and begin the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enhance the use of science in farming. McCormick’s reaper eventually led to the modern combine harvester; his company eventually merged with others to form International Harvester.

The McCormick Farm is a well preserved set of eight original buildings, including a grist mill, blacksmith shop, slave quarters, carriage house, manor house, smoke house, schoolroom, and housekeeper’s quarters. The original ice house was torn down in the 1960s. Outside the grist mill a wooden water wheel creaked eerily as it continued to turn after all these years. Inside, the mostly wood gear mechanisms showed how the grain was ground into meal. There are two sets of mill apparatuses: one solely for corn, the other for wheat and other grains. Grain is fed from a hopper in the upper level and ground at mid level while the main drive shaft and gears take up most of the lower level.

Another main building had the wood shops in the lower section and a museum in the upper section. Here there were many models of different McCormick reapers, a full-size original reaper, and tons of information about the history of the farm and the inventor. On the wall hung an old scythe and cradle, hand tools used to mow and reap crops before invention of the reaper. While onsite I also checked out the small blacksmith shop and water well.

Before leaving I left my name and website address in the guest book. Shortly after my return home I received an email from Amanda Kirby, an assistant at the Research and Extension Center, thanking me for my visit and providing some additional information and resources for the book I’m researching. All along my Chasing Abraham Lincoln road trip routes I’ve met many hugely interesting and helpful people, from local librarians to small museum curators to volunteers at courthouses. The tours have been a great way to study all things Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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To Kiss or Not to Kiss: Blarney Castle

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Blarney Castle, IrelandYou’ve heard the schtick. Visit Blarney! Kiss the Blarney Stone! Gain the gift of eloquence! But should you do it? To kiss, or not to kiss, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous condemnation by friends and family who bagger you with the question: “So, did you kiss the Blarney stone or not?”  Or to take up arms against a sea of tourists who pay big bucks to participate in nothing but a huge tourist hype…and by opposing, end them.*

*With apologies to Shakespeare’s Hamlet for disheveling his famous soliloquy.

The ultimate choice is, of course, up to you. Finding myself wandering around the Blarney Castle one rainy July day, I felt almost obligated to kiss the Blarney stone. Not from some Lonely Planet “must-do tourist check-the-box” list, but from the fear of hearing it from the Irish portion of my family bloodline. Okay, I admit it. This was kind of a bucket list thing for me and I really wanted to do it. So I did, thank you very much.

Blarney Castle, Ireland

Climbing the ever-narrowing tower steps to the top of the castle was at least dry, even if it did rekindle my mild claustrophobia. Half the castle was blocked by a green-mesh coated scaffolding for the most recent (continuing) renovation. Once at the top I joined a line of like-minded tourists (um, explorers) waiting for their chance to be manhandled into a narrow crevice. I must have missed the memo on this part but to kiss the Blarney stone – technically just the inside of the outer wall of the castle – you have to lie on your back, dangle your upper body into a small cutout hole in the roof, and while hoping the grip of the attendant on your body doesn’t slip due to the rain, lean back and kiss the stone upside down and backwards. Seriously, it’s like yoga at 90 feet. To ensure you get the most of the experience, a few widely spread iron bars are the only thing between your sightline and the ground far below. Please don’t lose your grip on me, Mr. Attendant. Jus’ sayin’.

After safely climbing down the stairs in the opposite tower, I walked around the grounds a little. If you get a good day (it rained the entire week I was in Ireland), take the time to walk through the gardens and check out Rock Close, a small natural enclave on the castle property.

Blarney Castle, Ireland

Usually I pass on the obligate “official photo,” but this time I was with family and thought it might be a good keepsake despite the rather unflattering photo. Only later did I hear stories of locals peeing on the stone at night and laughing heartily at the rock-kissing tourists at the local pub. Worse, that the stone and the accompanying hole was once a medieval toilet.

Sorry, I have a sudden urge to gargle a bottle of Listerine. But hey, if you want to kiss the Blarney stone, by all means do it. I did. Now, where did I put that bottle?

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Upcoming Abraham Lincoln Talks in Washington, DC

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David J Kent 2019This has been a very busy summer in Lincoln world. For me personally I have two upcoming presentations in Washington, D.C., including keynoting a major annual event at Fort Stevens. And both are free (so come on down).

The Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am a Vice President, suspends our monthly dinner meetings and author lectures for June, July, and August. That doesn’t mean we’re not active. In early June we held our annual guided tour, this year at Manassas Battlefield Park. Our monthly Lincoln book study group continues to meet every month except August. And members and officers are busy preparing for future events, publishing the newsletter, reviewing books, and lining up speakers for our fall and spring dinner meetings. [See the Lincoln Group website for the great slate of speakers we have scheduled.]

Lincoln’s Nomination: The next summer event arrives in about ten days from this post. I will join Lincoln Group President John O’Brien and Lincoln Group Recording Secretary Ed Epstein in a special mini-symposium at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (“Lincoln’s Church”) in downtown Washington DC. The event takes place Saturday, August 3rd from 10 am to 12 noon. Even better – it’s FREE! The focus will be “Lincoln’s Campaign for the Presidential Nomination” and John, Ed, and I will delve into Lincoln’s renewed political zeal after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and his ensuing path to the surprise Republican nomination. We will also relate it to the eerie parallels to today’s political climate. It’s a program not to be missed. More information on the Lincoln Group website.

Lincoln-Thomas Day Keynote: I’m happy to announce that I will give the keynote address at the annual Lincoln-Thomas Day event to be held Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 12 noon to 2 pm at Fort Stevens, Washington, D.C. The event jointly honors Abraham Lincoln’s signing of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862 and Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas, the free African-American owner of the land that became Fort Stevens (where Lincoln was chastised with “Get down you fool” as he stood in enemy fire on the Fort’s wall). This event is also free to public so please come on down and support me, the National Park Service, and the Military Road School Preservation Trust. More info soon as the organization updates their website.

Beyond that I’m already scheduled to give a talk at a private club in D.C. next April and will be at the annual Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg in November. The Lincoln Group of DC has already scheduled speakers throughout the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, so check out the Lincoln Group of DC website for more information and join us.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Lincoln’s Rocking Chair – The Ford Museum and Greenfield Village

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Abraham Lincoln rocking chairMy Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour took me to Dearborn, Michigan to see the chair. “The Chair.” The rocking chair that Abraham Lincoln was sitting in the moment he was assassinated. The chair is in the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, which along with its outdoor venue, Greenfield Village, is a treasure trove for Abraham Lincoln aficionados.

After spending the previous day in the bowels of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Emily Rapoza helped me research their incredible Lincoln collection, I drove from Fort Wayne up to Dearborn to see the original rocking chair. After it had languished for decades in storage at the Smithsonian Institution, the aging widow of Ford’s Theatre co-owner Harry Ford reclaimed it in 1929, and it was soon auctioned for $2,400. The buyer? An agent for automobile pioneer Henry Ford (no relation to the Ford’s Theatre Fords). Henry Ford had revered Lincoln, the “humble, self-made man, the ordinary man who seized opportunity and raised himself up.” The Lincoln rocking chair now sits in a temperature and humidity controlled glass enclosure in the Henry Ford Museum.

But there was more Lincoln to the visit. Prior to the protected spot in which it now sits, the chair was held in the Logan County Courthouse in the adjoining Greenfield Village. This is the actual courthouse from Postville, Illinois (since renamed Lincoln, Illinois) in which Lincoln practiced in during his long months on the 8th Judicial Circuit. Ford had it transported to Michigan and restored to depict Lincoln’s visits between 1840 and 1847.

The chilly, rainy day I visited made the warm and dry courthouse a welcome retreat. A somewhat bored docent was happy to see someone he could entertain. Finding a knowledgeable patron, his love for talking about Lincoln cascading out like the water Lincoln saw flowing over the lip of Niagara Falls. I decided not to tell him about my own book about Lincoln and let him run on with an incredible font of information about the courthouse, Lincoln, and legal circuit. He also told me the wardrobe sitting in the corner of the courthouse was believed to have been built by Lincoln’s father, Thomas. The knowledge and enthusiasm the docent exhibited was exhilarating. He was so enthralling I didn’t even tell him I had written a book on Lincoln.

One of my previous books was about Thomas Edison and Greenfield Village also has a replica of Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park lab, including some original outbuildings and even soil carted in by train from the New Jersey site. I had visited the current Menlo Park site museum and its towering lightbulb, as well as his West Orange (NJ) and Fort Myers (FL) laboratories, so it was a great treat to see one of his first labs as it was. Even more exciting, I fortuitously was there during one of the periodic visits by Edison himself, an actor who came into the lab in character and told us all about his current work. Afterwards I toured some old saw and grist mills important for my research.

Lincoln furniture, Ford Museum

Back inside the Ford Museum I found a small center table and side chair once owned by Abraham and Mary Lincoln in their Springfield, Illinois home. Furniture owned by other writers like Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe were a thrill to see. I also spent some time in the Agriculture section of the museum where I could see some of the technological improvements (e.g., a McCormick reaper) that I’m researching for my next Lincoln book. For the science geek in me they had a Mathematica section with all sorts of cool exhibits.

Both the Museum and the Village have much more worth seeing and I highly encourage everyone to make the trip. There truly is something for everyone here and one can’t help but learn some history and science while being entertained.

My Chasing Abraham Lincoln tours continue! Much more to come.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Seeing the Real Cuba – Camagüey

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American travel to Cuba has been restricted since the early 1960s, although some Americans have visited the capital city Havana on cruise ship stops. But Havana is no more the real Cuba than Paris is the real France. To really understand the nation you must get out to the country, which includes Camagüey, roughly 350 miles east of Havana.

Camagüey is actually the third largest city in Cuba with its 325,000 inhabitants. Unlike the more cosmopolitan Havana, Camagüey retains its deep Spanish influence. The city also retains the charm – and tendency to get lost – in its winding, narrow streets. As we discovered during our three days there, Camagüey’s old town area is a maze of blind alleys and small squares with small streets leading off in many directions. We visited several of the squares, starting with the one right outside our quaint hotel, as well as to the outlying countryside to visit farms.

Camaguey, Cuba

Local mythology claims that the confusion caused by this maze was intentional as a means of getting invaders hopelessly lost in the city, but in reality it probably is just a lack of central planning.

In Camagüey and environs we visited with many local artists including Pepe Gutierrez (beautiful work in leather), the Casanova family (potters), Ileana Sanchez and Joel Jover (eclectic painters), and Martha Jimenez (sculpture and painting). Each gave us an exhibition of their work, then answered our sometimes insightful, sometimes clueless questions. Usually this was through translation by our local guide since most Cubans outside Havana are as monolingual as most Americans.

We also got a sense of the realities of food distribution in this centrally controlled communist economic system. A visit to an outlying dairy farm gave us a first hand look at cow milking and horse shoeing, but also the knowledge that all the milk produced is sold to the government (except for some held for personal family use). Farmers aren’t allowed to sell directly to the public. Instead the raw milk is sent to the government, which has it pasteurized in a government-approved plant and then redistributed back to the people. The same process is used for other commodities such as rice, chicken, wheat, eggs, etc.

Which gets us to the ration stores. In Camagüey and the other small towns we stopped in it was common to see groups of people milling around outside. Some of this was to capture any breeze as air conditioning is essentially non-existent outside the tourist hotels (indeed, many places don’t have running water or electricity much of the day). But crowds also gathered at ration stores that were expecting a shipment of chickens or eggs or bread, surging in with their ration books to get their allocated portion before the supply ran out. When we were there the country had been suffering under a grain shortage, which meant a lack of not only bread but feed for chickens, and subsequently also a shortage of eggs. Even when you could get these commodities, the amount allocated to each family was extremely limited (e.g., a few eggs for a family for the week).

While the central collection and distribution system is inherently inefficient and prone to corruption, much of the chronic shortages are due to two factors: 1) Cuba is an island and can’t produce enough food to meet its needs (about two-thirds of the rice eaten is imported, a stunning fact for a nation in which rice and beans is the base dish at every meal), and 2) the ongoing (and now expanded) U.S. embargo, which blocks any U.S. direct trade with Cuba as well as effectively blocking trade from other countries by penalizing those foreign businesses that try to do business with Cuba.

If all you see of Cuba is Havana you’ll walk away with a false perception of the island. One obvious example is reflected in the hundreds of “classic cars” used as taxis to shuttle tourists around the capital city. In reality, there is only 1 car for every 167,000 Cubans. What cars they have are cobbled together and unreliable, as is the availability of gasoline (or homemade oil) needed to keep them running. Travel by ox or horse cart, or by bicycle or pedicab (one of our regular forms of transportation in Camagüey and elsewhere), is more the norm, as is walking. A lot of walking. Oh, and the big ritzy western-style Hotel Nacional in Havana is a huge contrast to the tiny, more humble, adobe abodes in which most Cubans – including those with professional jobs like psychologists and hotel managers – live (pay rates are also strictly controlled by the government).

I traveled on one of the “people-to-people” tours with Road Scholar that take advantage of an exemption in the embargo. With the recent administration edict further restricting travel, I’m not sure whether these programs can still run. If they can, I highly recommend going to Cuba and getting out to the towns and countryside far away from Havana where you can learn a little more about the real Cuba.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Chasing Lincoln’s Almanac Murder Trial in Beardstown

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On my most recent Chasing Abraham Lincoln trip I stopped in Beardstown, Illinois to visit the site of one of Lincoln’s most famous cases – the Almanac Murder Trial. Beardstown has the only active courthouse that Lincoln practiced in, and the 1858 trial was both sensational and controversial.

Almanac trial

I arrived at the Beardstown Courthouse Museum around 3:50 pm. The sign said it was open only until 4 pm, so I rushed in to find a nearly empty foyer and some locked doors. As my hopes began to fade I encountered a resident volunteer guide named Paula Woods. I felt intrusive as I told her I would like to see the museum, as she fumbled for an old-fashioned keychain reminiscent of a jailhouse. Before we were finished, I actual did see the jailhouse cell that had held Duff Armstrong, the man charged with murder.

Even before she opened up the first door leading to a small room filled with Lincoln and trial-related artifacts, the visit turned into something special. In the foyer Paula pointed out a tall sign highlighting the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area and the Looking for Lincoln campaign. I had indeed heard of it, I said, and had in fact just participated in the LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Leadership Academy program (hence my late arrival to Beardstown). It turns out Paula isn’t just a volunteer, she is the Chair of the Commission that runs the courthouse museum and other historical locations in Cass County. She is also on the LEAD program Board!

The 4 pm closing time quickly sped away as Paula showed me the exhibits and then unlocked the door to the stairs leading to the second floor courtroom. The court is still in session, she explains, with cases heard about once a month. Entering the doorway I was standing in the very court where Lincoln defended Duff Armstrong. The key witness in the trial claimed he clearly saw the fight by “the light of a high moon” around 10 or 11 pm that night. Aha, thought the scientifically minded Lincoln and produced an almanac showing the moon “runs low” that night and was already setting by the time of the incident. Having shown the witness lying, Duff Armstrong was acquitted. On the wall is a large painting depicting the moment Lincoln pointed out the discrepancy to the jury, the almanac clear on this point.

The almanac most often depicted was the Old Farmer’s Almanac for that date, although no one actually knows if it was that one or another of the several available at the time. There is even a suggestion that the almanac was forged, but modern recalculations show the moon would indeed have been unusually low that night, part of an 18.6-year lunar cycle that affects lunar declination.

As people started to show up for a pre-arranged community meeting in the courtroom, Paula took me around other parts of the courthouse, including the jailhouse. It was here that Duff Armstrong spent his days and nights waiting for his trial to start. Lincoln had been friends with the Armstrong family for many years and wrote Hannah Armstrong as soon as he heard about her son Duff’s predicament. Lincoln refused payment, citing his work as thanks for all the favors done by the Jack and Hannah over the many years of Lincoln’s life.

Long after the official closing time I thanked Paula for staying late on my behalf. We discussed the work of the LEAD program and Heritage Area, as well as how my book has successfully brought Lincoln to a broad swath of the American public. Having started the day with the LEAD students, it was time to head north for more adventures Chasing Abraham Lincoln.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Visiting Hemingway in Cuba

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David with Hemingway in CubaFor twenty years of his life, Ernest Hemingway lived on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. I spent some time recently visiting with the man who wrote The Old Man and the Sea. In fact, I visited the place where the real old man used to put to sea.

This isn’t my first visit to Hemingway’s home. A few years ago I was in Key West, Florida, where he lived prior to moving to Cuba. It turns out Hemingway was a “crazy cat lady,” favoring six-toed cats that wandered freely throughout his compound. No sign of any cats roaming today’s Hemingway farm in Havana, although he remained a cat lover and there was no shortage of stray cats and dogs on the island.

Before arriving at Finca Vigia, which means “Lookout Farm,” I stopped in Cojimar, a small town east of Havana. It was here that Gregorio Fuentes, the real life inspiration for Hemingway’s fictional character Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, set out for his daily fishing trips. Next to a ancient castle-like structure sits a plaza and memorial bust to Hemingway, loved by Cubans as much as Americans.

Finca Vigia is aptly named. It sits on hill overlooking Havana. The airy one story home is filled with books as Hemingway never threw anything away and loved to read. Even the bathroom has bookshelves (it also has his daily weight scrawled on the wall adjacent to a professional doctor’s scale). He would entertain friends on his six acres of land, which includes forest paths and a swimming pool tucked into the woods. Today, next to the pool, sits Hemingway’s 38-foot fishing boat, Pilar (Pilar was Hemingway’s nickname for his second wife, Pauline).

Hemingway studio in Cuba

Hemingway’s actual writing studio was at the top of a small tower next to the house’s back veranda. With views on all sides of Havana and the coastline, the room seems perfect for writing. Oddly, however, it seems Hemingway preferred writing in his bedroom. The beautiful tower studio was relegated to the cats.

I learned two interesting aspects of Hemingway’s personality in Cuba. While I already knew he was a big game hunter – every wall in the house has some stuffed animal head gazing down at visitors – Hemingway liked hunting animals that fought back. Big, angry animals that weren’t going to stand still waiting to get shot, and who, if you were to misfire, might kill you just as quickly as you intended to kill him. Perhaps today’s “hunters” using high powered rifles shooting placid animals held in “shooting parks” should take a note from the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning writer. I also learned that, besides being a “crazy cat lady,” Hemingway was a bit obsessive-compulsive. All of his hundreds (thousands) of books are ordered on the shelves by size. Not topic, order of acquisition, author. Nope. By size.

As a writer I can say it was inspirational to visit Hemingway’s homes, now two of them. Whether you like his writing or his lifestyle, every writer has to appreciate that he lived his life fully and is considered an icon in the writing world.

Now, back to writing.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln LEADing Emerging Leaders

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LEAD sweatshirtLast week I had the privilege of visiting with the LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Youth Leadership Academy in Jacksonville, Illinois. Led by Sarah Watson and George Buss, I discovered an amazing group of emerging leaders and their equally amazing mentors. I came away thoroughly impressed.

And the program is indeed impressive. When I arrived the group of 40 seventh grade students were watching Steven Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln. After the movie, and after they asked questions to George Buss about it, the students all moved back to the classroom where they split into their color-coded groups (Red, Gold, Silver, etc.) to do a verbal and written debriefing. Each student was encouraged to offer their views of the movie and wrote comments on large poster sheets of paper. The goal was to help them think about what they just saw or experienced. The Academy participants did this for each event they participated in, which included visits to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (where they saw the original Gettysburg Address), New Salem (where they experienced Lincoln’s early life in Illinois), the old State House (where Lincoln practiced law), and several other venues.

Beyond the emerging leader students themselves, I was struck by the high level of leadership shown by the group of eight mentors. These college age men and women each were responsible for a group of approximately six students and worked with some autonomy from Sarah and George’s overall guidance. I was truly impressed with their ability to encourage, guide, and inspire the students. Without these amazing mentors, the program wouldn’t work. Congratulations and thank you to all of you.

I played only a tiny part in the program but it’s an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. On the first evening I watched the groups debrief after the Lincoln movie and then joined them for dinner in the Illinois College cafeteria. The next morning I gave them some background on my own leadership experience and lessons I had learned about how to lead. I then answered some incredibly insightful questions from both students and mentors.

Why me? In part because my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, was given to each student and mentor for the second year in a row. But also because I’ve somehow risen from being the quiet, non-participant (i.e., “the shy kid”) in my younger years to a series of leadership roles in my life and career. I told them how I accidentally became President of my college Biology Society, then President of a regional chapter of an international scientific organization (twice!), President of a second scientific organization, Chair of the scientist group at my former employer, Chair of the Program Committee organizing a North American conference with 2500 attendees, and a variety of other leadership positions.

I’m currently Vice President of Education and Outreach for the Lincoln Group of DC, the most active Abraham Lincoln group in the nation. From the LEAD program I learned a lot that can benefit the outreach and education activities of the Lincoln Group of DC. So I learned as much from the students and mentors as they did from me.

After my session I was happy to sign copies of my book to each and every student and mentor. Each one also had a photo taken with me (or I had my photo taken with them), along with a group photo for each of the color-coded groups with their mentors.

My fondest memory is watching the students become engrossed in my book after the signings. One student, upon flipping through the graphics-heavy pages, told George Buss that “This is so cool.”

This is so cool.

That absolutely made my day. This is why I wrote the book. I wanted to reach the public that might not be reading – or reading yet – the big Lincoln tomes that dominate the market. I wanted the graphics to both grab the reader’s attention and provide another means of educating them. I wanted people, both students and adults, to read my book and think, “This is so cool.”

So thank you Sarah and George and all the mentors and students for allowing me to learn from all of you. I’ll never forget the experience.

[And thanks to Sarah, George, Heather, and the LEAD staff for all the great photos!]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Tesla Book Makes #1 on Illuminating Biographies of Notable Figures

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Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity has made #1 in the list of 13 Illuminating Biographies of Notable Figures created by Ezvid Wiki.

Click here to watch the short video

Tesla Ezvid

Founded in 2011, Ezvid Wiki was the world’s first video wiki, and is now among the top 3,000 websites in the United States. Their YouTube channel has over 425,000 subscribers, 250 million views since founding, and they have informed over $200 million in purchasing decisions to date. They write:

In the #1 spot we have David J. Kent’s “Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity,” which tells the extraordinary tale of Nikola Tesla, the Croatian* genius who invented alternating current, wireless transmission, and the radio. During his nomadic life, Tesla encountered historical figures including Thomas Edison and Mark Twain, all while dealing with the many compulsions of his eccentric nature. Kent explores Tesla’s decidedly unusual career and his many contributions to modern science, which have fundamentally shaped the modern world.

*Note that Tesla was actually of Serbian heritage. The people who made the video and the text above copied from it likely conflated his place of birth (in an area that is now part of present-day Croatia) with his heritage.

This is just one of many acknowledgements of the book in the online and print press. Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity has seen eight printings and several foreign translations (so far) and been read in many countries around the world. I’ve been lucky enough to advise the off-Broadway play TESLA and meet Tesla royalty in Serbia and the book has received widespread accolades.

Want to know more about Nikola Tesla? Click here for previous posts about Tesla and his work.

Take a look at the Ezvid Wiki video and check out all 13 Illuminating Biographies.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!