From a young age Thomas Edison showed that he was not like most other boys. Tossed out of school after a few weeks because his teachers thought he was “addled” and “dreamy,” Edison learned mostly on his own by devouring scientific books. He questioned everything. His father began to think young Tom was a bit dim-witted because he asked so many questions. The reverse was true; inquisitive throughout his life, Edison had a knack for remembering virtually everything he read.
When he wasn’t conducting chemical experiments in his parents basement (and getting a public whipping after burning down the family barn), Edison was hanging around the local rail yard listening to stories from the lumber gangs and memorizing the rough songs from the canal men. He liked the railroad life so much he became a butcher.
A news butcher that is; generally shortened to just news butch. At only 12 years old he was riding the 63 miles of the Grand Trunk Railway. Each day Edison would hop the 7 A.M. train for Detroit, not returning until around 9 P.M. that evening. All day long he would wander up and down the aisle of the train hawking newspapers and magazines, along with candy, fruit, and anything else he thought he could sell.
The news butch biz was so successful that Edison rapidly became an entrepreneur, setting up stores in town and hiring other boys to do the selling for a share of the profit while he continued to hawk newspapers on the train. Before long he started his own newspaper, becoming the first person ever to gather news and print it up right on the moving train.
The trains gave Edison access to another budding technology of the day – the telegraph. He would telegraph ahead with the headlines and have a swarm of customers waiting for the train to buy up all of his editions at ever-growing prices. Edison’s love affair with trains and telegraphs led to his first real job as a telegrapher during the Civil War, and improvements to telegraphy were his first inventions as a young man out on his own when he was only 22 years old.
Edison led a fascinating life, in both the good and bad meanings of that term. He built a reputation as an innovator, invented the “invention factory,” and tussled with the likes of Alexander Graham Bell and Nikola Tesla. Edison didn’t always win those battles, and some would say he didn’t always play fair, but he remains today one of the best known and revered inventors of all time.
There is much more on Edison’s new butch days – and all his other best known and little known inventions – in my new book Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World due out in 2016 from Fall River Press. Check back here for updates and a first glimpse of the new cover as soon as it happens.
David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.
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“…if this part of the natural process were under the control of man he could transform the entire globe.” – Nikola Tesla
Tesla) circled the boat, we stopped at Ellis Island on the way back, just long enough to remind us that immigration is the fabric of our nation. From there we visited One World Trade Center, called “Freedom Tower” by many. Sitting on the site of the World Trade Towers that fell September 11, 2001, the new building overlooks two reverse pools surrounded by the names of those lost. A museum brings you down into the nightmare that was that day, and also the heroism. It’s a must visit.
After hosting the Thanksgiving visit the only trip left on the calendar this year is a 4-day weekend in New Orleans. I’ve never been there. After lobbying SETAC for ten years to hold a meeting there they finally scheduled one – for the time that I was working in Brussels and my company refused to allow me to come back for it. I’m looking forward to it, especially now that I know there is a plaque highlighting Thomas Edison in the French Quarter.
I’ve just returned from the annual Lincoln Forum conference in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This was the 20th anniversary event, complete with cake. The Forum fills two and a half days with presentations by renowned Abraham Lincoln scholars, great camaraderie, and books. A lot of books. As usual, my bag coming home is filled with new books picked up at the conference bookstore.
Now the books. New additions to my collection include an essay compilation book edited by Frank Williams and a second similar book edited by Joseph Fornieri. I also picked up an edition of Reck’s A Lincoln: His Last 24 Hours and a book on the lost whaling fleet (which had battled the confederate navy and the Arctic during the Civil War). Perhaps the most unique acquisition is a book called Villainous Compounds: Chemical Weapons & The American Civil War by Guy R. Hasegawa. With my scientific background it would almost be blasphemous if I hadn’t bought it (he tells himself, in a rationalizing sort of way).
Having already bought it beforehand, I took advantage of the conference to bring my copy of Harold Holzer’s new book 
It’s been a busy 48 hours with respect to Abraham Lincoln traveling. And it’s about to get even busier.
Climate change has already shown impacts not only on the world’s temperatures but on ocean acidification, sea level rise, and effects on plant and animal migration behaviors, among others. The Dake Page periodically reviews science-related books.It isn’t clear whether the impacts noted in Fire in the Turtle House are related to climate change or some other cause, but it reflects how quickly disruptions can result in catastrophic impacts on wildlife. What follows is a short review of 
Soon my parents will be visiting from New England. They will spend a few days with me, then a few days with my brother who lives about 20 minutes away. The visit has become an annual event since my return from living overseas, not counting the year of Dad’s major heart surgery.
