Rating: 4/5
Robert Lomas, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, Forgotten Genius of Electricity (London: Headline, 1999).
This is an excellent non-academic biography (no source notes) of Nikola Tesla. I knew of Tesla, but it was nice to read his story from beginning to end. Lomas is obviously sympathetic towards Tesla, but I don’t care what you say, there is no way to spin Tesla’s story in such a way as to redeem Edison, Westinghouse, and JP Morgan. Edison especially was, in the immortal words of Matthew Inman, a douchebag . This is a short and easy read that I recommend to anyone.