Tag: Book

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Update on Nikola Tesla book

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Nikola TeslaAfter a busy (okay, rough) week that kept me away it seems like a good time to provide an update on my book, Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. In early January I attended a Tesla Memorial Conference in New York City, which if you missed my articles you can read about by clicking on this link.

Meanwhile, the book design part of the publishing process has been moving forward at a glacial pace. My editor confirmed this week that they are “proofing the interiors,” which is publisher-speak for making sure all the pictures and layout look right on the page. They also queried about a citation I had in the footnotes but was missing from the bibliography, so I provided that source. The book should be headed to the printer soon.

I also provided a book jacket cover design for their consideration. I really like my “new perspective” tagline, which goes well with the photo taken from an interesting perspective at Niagara Falls. Ultimately, the final book jacket design is up to them. I am working on how to send advance copies to folks so I can get blurbs for the back cover. Nikola Tesla’s grand-nephew, William H. Terbo, recently asked for a copy of the book so I am anxious to get him one as soon as available.

Beyond the waiting for the book production I have been busy planning for my “world tour” (of sorts). There is no guarantee that there will be enough interest to warrant book signings but I am working on the assumption that more than a handful of friends will want a copy. I will be visiting my hometown soon for a family obligation so plan to meet with local bookshops and maybe even get an interview for the local paper.

I will provide another update as soon as the book goes to the printer and I have the pre-order information. The waiting is difficult but the idea that I will be holding the book in my hands soon is incredibly exciting.

More on Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity.

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Tesla Memorial Conference program is coming together

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Nikola TeslaAs discussed previously, the Tesla Science Foundation is sponsoring a Nikola Tesla Memorial Conference in New York City from January 5 to 7, 2012. The site is the New Yorker Hotel where Tesla lived his final years and died on January 7, 1943.

A Tesla Spirit Award Benefit Reception will take place on the evening of January 5th, then the next two days are filled with speakers bringing everyone up to date on exciting Tesla-related projects. Included are the Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Telsa on film, and Tesla as inspiration for music, books, and art. Renowned Tesla expert Marc Seifer will be there, as will Jane Alcorn from the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, who will bring us up to date on the magnificent effort to raise money and purchase Tesla’s old Wardenclyffe property on Long Island. I’ll be there too talking about my forthcoming book Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity.

The final day gets deep into the technical discoveries of Tesla, including some new ideas for further development of principles he originated a century ago. Definitely a man ahead of his time.

If you’re interested in Tesla and haven’t yet signed up please follow this link to register. Time is getting short.

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Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity

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Nikola TeslaThings are moving along with my book Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. The manuscript has been accepted by my editor at Sterling Publishing and their team is working on the design – layout, photos, colors, sidebars, and much much more. Sometime in January it will go to the printer and pre-orders will start sometime in the spring.

 

So, what can you expect from the book? Here’s a tickler – my chapter titles…

Chapter 1:      A Scientific Rock Star is Born

Chapter 2:      Coming of Age in Europe

Chapter 3:      The Odd Mr. Tesla

Chapter 4:      Of Edison and Westinghouse

Chapter 5:      A Man Always at War

Chapter 6:      Wireless and Wardenclyffe

Chapter 7:      Taking on Einstein

Chapter 8:      Beyond the Grave – Conspiracies Abound

Chapter 9:      A Lasting Legacy

I’ll have more when I return from my trip.

More about Nikola Tesla.

 

 

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So how did Nikola Tesla do when he went to California?

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Nikola TeslaAs I mentioned a few weeks ago, Nikola Tesla joined me on my recent trip to Long Beach, California. And he did very well, thank you. At least my book about Tesla did very well.

I donated a copy of Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity to the silent auction at the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). Conference attendees saw a color brochure of the book that will come out in the spring of 2013. At that time I will inscribe and sign the book hot off the presses and ship it to the winning bidder. The book actually got five bids. Not bad for a biography of a long-dead electrical engineer auctioned to a group of toxicologists and chemists.

Nikola Tesla Silent Auction

And the winning bidder is…Diana Eignor. While I didn’t know any of the first four bidders it turns out I do know Diana. Like me a past-president of the Chesapeake and Potomac Regional Chapter of SETAC, Diana actually works in Washington DC not far from my own office. That will certainly save me postage for shipping the book when it comes out (though it might gladly cost me lunch). And the money that Diana paid goes to help fund SETAC’s student activities. Everyone wins.

Next up for Nikola Tesla and me is a trip to New York on the 70th anniversary of Tesla’s death in the New Yorker Hotel. More on that in a later post.

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Abraham Lincoln Book Review – The Oliver R. Barrett Lincoln Collection

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Abraham LincolnOf the estimated 15,000 or more books written about Abraham Lincoln, I have about 700 in my collection. As I do the research for my next book I have been reading some key tomes and came across a rather unique volume called The Immortal Autograph Letters…Lincolniana Collected by the Late Oliver R. Barrett.

This is a truly amazing book, for two reasons that I will get to in a moment.  The book is really the hard bound catalog of the public auction of the Oliver R. Barrett collection, a sale held in February 1952 by Parke-Bernet Galleries.  While that may sound a little dry, I assure you the book offers a wealth of historical information that is both insightful and exciting.

Oliver R. Barrett amassed a private collection of Abraham Lincoln that was second to no one.  After his death in the latter part of the first half of the 20th Century, a public auction was held of his collection.  This hard bound version of the catalog documents every one of the 842 items sold.  In the collection there are many documents, letters, manuscripts, portraits, personal relics, and a multitude of other “Lincolniana.”  Many are handwritten letters by Lincoln himself, others are letters by Secretary of State Seward, various Generals and other key players in the Civil War, and friends.  There are even letters from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee, and others in the Confederacy.  All of these documents, and associated photographs and relics, are presented and were sold in roughly chronological order, so one can read the summaries of each item and excerpts from important letters to experience the history of the 1850s leading up to Lincoln’s election, through the Civil War itself, and then the immediate reactions to Lincoln’s assassination.

The second feature that makes my particular copy of this book extraordinary is that one of the attendees of the auction has penciled in next to each and every item the sale price, and if known, the buyer.  To see what collectors paid for each item is a wonderful insight into the value people put on Lincoln almost 100 years after his death.  Most items sold for less than $100, but many sold in the hundreds to thousands of dollars.  The highest price paid for any one item was $35,000 for a series of 14 letters from Lincoln to his best friend Joshua Fry Speed.  The letters provide a rare insight into Lincoln’s personal feelings and friendships as Lincoln met Speed when he first moved to Springfield, Illinois to begin his law career and continued throughout his life.

The auction attendee has gone a step further and has at the end of the book written in pencil a table totaling the sale prices for each of the four sessions held over two days, and the grand total, which amounted to $273,632.50.  Keep in mind that this was in 1952 and in current dollars would amount to many millions of dollars.

I am privileged to own this first edition annotated copy.  I expected a rather dull list of items sold at auction, but what I found was an amazing insight into history.

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Nikola Tesla Goes to the Silent Auction

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Nikola TeslaIn a few weeks I will attend the annual scientific conference of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). This year Nikola Tesla will go with me. And then he will leave with someone else.

The conference attracts about 2500 members each year and we juggle our time between attending presentations of the latest science, attending committee meetings and other events, and attending to the myriad conversations held in the hallways of the convention center. The latter is where most of the collaboration is done. Or at least it seems that way.

There are also socials and various other events, this year including a dinner in the Aquarium of the Pacific since the conference is being held in Long Beach (and yes, I will be adding the aquarium to my list!). Every year there is also what is called a Silent Auction. Members donate everything from artwork to golf clubs to earrings made from the sand castings of worm-like fly larvae (you have to be there to appreciate it). For three days the items all sit on display in the main exhibit hall and everyone has a chance to write down their bids on whatever items appeal to them. As a scientific organization it shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that there are a lot of books donated. And that is where Tesla comes in.

While my Nikola Tesla book won’t have a hard cover until the spring of 2013, I have donated a signed copy to the silent auction. The winning bidder will get to specify whatever inscription they desire, which I will duly apply with my signature and then send the book to them free of charge as soon as it pops out of the printing press. Here is the flyer I will put on display:

Nikola Tesla Silent Auction

One thing you might notice is that the title has changed. This wasn’t entirely unexpected since “Scientific Rock Star” was merely a working title from the beginning. But you’ll see I have cleverly found a way to keep it on the cover. 🙂

All proceeds from the silent auction go toward funding student activities, including helping to cover the cost of doing research, developing presentations, and traveling to scientific meetings like SETAC. So I’m hoping that the book will get plenty of attention. I’ll let you know.

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Update on Tesla Book – Going Through the Publisher’s Edits – Book Title Change

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Nikola TeslaJust a quick update – I have gone through at least some of the publisher’s edits in Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star. Most are straightforward and not controversial. But then there is the question of the title.

Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star will probably not be the final title.

Scientific Rock Star is my working title, but the publisher was keen on Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. In the edits just received the title change has been made in the manuscript; that would seem to make it official.

My first chapter, however, remains titled “A Scientific Rock Star is Born.”

So I suppose I need to edit my tentative book cover:

Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star cover

More as I get through the edits.

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Nikola Tesla Saves Thomas Edison in Paris

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Nikola TeslaPrior to moving to the United States Nikola Tesla worked for Thomas Edison’s electric company in Paris.

Tesla’s initial time at Continental Edison was spent as a kind of traveling repairman sent to fix some of the tougher problems with the direct current system.  Moving about mainly in France and Germany he would “cure the ills” and return to Paris.  This experience led him to propose improvements to the dynamos, which he implemented. “My success was complete,” Tesla would write, “and the delighted directors accorded me the privilege of developing automatic regulators which were much desired.” Having quickly built a reputation as someone who could save the day, not to mention his proficiency in the German language, Tesla was the obvious choice to send to Strassburg, Alsace (part of Germany at the time, now Strasbourg, France). A catastrophic event had occurred during the opening ceremony of the new lighting plant at the railroad station, and help was needed fast.

The Strasbourg rail station, originally built in 1846, had just been remodeled in the current year of 1883.  Dignitaries, including the aging Emperor William I of Germany, were gathered to watch the newly installed direct current electric lighting system showcase the station.  The flip of the switch turned out to be more dramatic than expected, however, and a large part of a wall was collapsed by a huge explosion, nearly taking William with it. Following this major malfunction and a series of other quality control issues – light bulbs were burning out as fast as they could be replaced – the talented Tesla was dispatched to see what he could do to repair the damage, both to the direct current system and the sensitivities of the Alsace people.

Tesla took on the task of correcting the problem and spent nearly a year redesigning the generators and reinstalling the lighting system. Then, with the Strasbourg rail station now fully lit and accepted by the Alsace government, Tesla “returned to Paris with pleasing anticipations.”

The reality turned out to be not so pleasing.

 

David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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Nikola Tesla book update – edits expected this week

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Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla is in the house. Okay, maybe not quite in the house yet. Well, unless you count the AC outlets given that it was his inventions that allowed alternating current to beat out Thomas Edison’s direct current systems. But I digress.

I mentioned before that on September 10th I sent the manuscript for Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star to my editor at Sterling Publishing. Since then I have been waiting for some feedback, knowing that publishers and editors are very busy people and the manuscript would take a while to review. Still, every day that passed is a week for an author waiting to find out if the manuscript he slaved over for months, often without food or sleep, would be deemed acceptable. Okay, I made up the part about going without food or sleep, but you get the idea. Nail-biting time.

Monday I heard from my editor. The bottom line is that he is “working on edits to the mss” (publisher-speak for “manuscripts,” though in retrospect I only sent him one ms). He expects to deliver the edits to me later this week. He also thanked me for sending him a few dozen photos to use in the book.

All of which I am taking as good news. After all, if he is editing it then it must mean it was at least not so bad as to immediately toss in the trash. And yes, I am choosing to put the best face on this as I can. Easier on the psyche that way. I will find out for sure when the edits arrive.

Wish me luck.

P.S. There is also news about the marketing and the book cover…and something called a “silent auction.” More on that shortly.

More information on my book “Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star” can be found on my Tesla page. Don’t forget to subscribe to the posts by email on the home page.  And feel free to “Like” my Facebook author’s page and connect on LinkedIn.  Share with your friends with the buttons below.

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Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star – The Book Cover

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As Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star makes its way through the pre-publication process, I thought I would put together a potential cover for the book.  What do you think?

Nikola Tesla: Scientific Rock Star cover

This likely won’t be the real cover that Sterling Publishing will produce. In fact, the title might not even be the same. They like “The Wizard of Electricity,” and that might be what it actually says on the cover when it hits the bookstores.

But hey, I’m having a little fun. I worked the above up in MS Paint, which is about as good an advertisement for buying Adobe Photoshop as could be imagined. The photograph is one I took at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. Tesla’s eyes gaze out over Horseshoe Falls a stone’s throw from the statue. Come to think about it, I really like this photo.

So, does it work?

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