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Edison
From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edmund Morris comes a revelatory new biography of Thomas Alva Edison, the most prolific genius in American history.
Although Thomas Alva Edison was the most famous American of his time, and remains an international name today, he is mostly remembered only for the gift of universal electric light. His invention of the first practical incandescent lamp 140 years ago so dazzled the world--already reeling from his invention of the phonograph and dozens of other revolutionary devices--that it cast a shadow over his later achievements. In all, this near-deaf genius ("I haven't heard a bird sing since I was twelve years old") patented 1,093 inventions, not including others, such as the X-ray fluoroscope, that he left unlicensed for the benefit of medicine.
One of the achievements of this staggering new biography, the first major life of Edison in more than twenty years, is that it portrays the unknown Edison--the philosopher, the futurist, the chemist, the botanist, the wartime defense adviser, the founder of nearly 250 companies--as fully as it deconstructs the Edison of mythological memory. Edmund Morris, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, brings to the task all the interpretive acuity and literary elegance that distinguished his previous biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and Ludwig van Beethoven. A trained musician, Morris is especially well equipped to recount Edison's fifty-year obsession with recording technology and his pioneering advances in the synchronization of movies and sound. Morris sweeps aside conspiratorial theories positing an enmity between Edison and Nikola Tesla and presents proof of their mutually admiring, if wary, relationship.
Enlightened by seven years of research among the five million pages of original documents preserved in Edison's huge laboratory at West Orange, New Jersey, and privileged access to family papers still held in trust, Morris is also able to bring his subject to life on the page--the adored yet autocratic and often neglectful husband of two wives and father of six children. If the great man who emerges from it is less a sentimental hero than an overwhelming force of nature, driven onward by compulsive creativity, then Edison is at last getting his biographical due.
Although Thomas Alva Edison was the most famous American of his time, and remains an international name today, he is mostly remembered only for the gift of universal electric light. His invention of the first practical incandescent lamp 140 years ago so dazzled the world--already reeling from his invention of the phonograph and dozens of other revolutionary devices--that it cast a shadow over his later achievements. In all, this near-deaf genius ("I haven't heard a bird sing since I was twelve years old") patented 1,093 inventions, not including others, such as the X-ray fluoroscope, that he left unlicensed for the benefit of medicine.
One of the achievements of this staggering new biography, the first major life of Edison in more than twenty years, is that it portrays the unknown Edison--the philosopher, the futurist, the chemist, the botanist, the wartime defense adviser, the founder of nearly 250 companies--as fully as it deconstructs the Edison of mythological memory. Edmund Morris, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, brings to the task all the interpretive acuity and literary elegance that distinguished his previous biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and Ludwig van Beethoven. A trained musician, Morris is especially well equipped to recount Edison's fifty-year obsession with recording technology and his pioneering advances in the synchronization of movies and sound. Morris sweeps aside conspiratorial theories positing an enmity between Edison and Nikola Tesla and presents proof of their mutually admiring, if wary, relationship.
Enlightened by seven years of research among the five million pages of original documents preserved in Edison's huge laboratory at West Orange, New Jersey, and privileged access to family papers still held in trust, Morris is also able to bring his subject to life on the page--the adored yet autocratic and often neglectful husband of two wives and father of six children. If the great man who emerges from it is less a sentimental hero than an overwhelming force of nature, driven onward by compulsive creativity, then Edison is at last getting his biographical due.
800 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2019
About the author
Edmund Morris
74 books928 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
Other authors with this name:
Edmund Morris (1804-1874)
Edmund Morris, actor, playwright, author of screenplays
Edmund Morris was a writer best known for his biographies of United States presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Morris received his early education in Kenya after which he attended Rhodes University in South Africa. He worked as an advertising copywriter in London before emigrating to the United States in 1968.
His biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1980. After spending 14 years as President Reagan's authorized biographer, he published the national bestseller Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan in 1999.
Morris's other books include Theodore Rex, the second in a projected three-volume chronicle of the life of Theodore Roosevelt, and Beethoven: The Universal Composer. Mr. Morris wrote extensively on travel and the arts for such publications as The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Harper's Magazine.
Edmund Morris lived in New York City and Kent, Connecticut with his wife and fellow biographer, Sylvia Jukes Morris.
Morris died on May 24, 2019 at a hospital in Kent, from a stroke at the age of 78.
Other authors with this name:
Edmund Morris (1804-1874)
Edmund Morris, actor, playwright, author of screenplays
Edmund Morris was a writer best known for his biographies of United States presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Morris received his early education in Kenya after which he attended Rhodes University in South Africa. He worked as an advertising copywriter in London before emigrating to the United States in 1968.
His biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1980. After spending 14 years as President Reagan's authorized biographer, he published the national bestseller Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan in 1999.
Morris's other books include Theodore Rex, the second in a projected three-volume chronicle of the life of Theodore Roosevelt, and Beethoven: The Universal Composer. Mr. Morris wrote extensively on travel and the arts for such publications as The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Harper's Magazine.
Edmund Morris lived in New York City and Kent, Connecticut with his wife and fellow biographer, Sylvia Jukes Morris.
Morris died on May 24, 2019 at a hospital in Kent, from a stroke at the age of 78.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 560 reviews
January 26, 2020
History is full of people whose lives have impacted mine in some form or another. While I have always loved reading biographies, I find particular interest in people whose names I know but whose lives remain a mystery to me. While the name Thomas Edison has always been synonymous with the invention of the lightbulb, there is much more to the man’s life. Pulitzer-prize winning author, Edmund Morris, takes the reader through the life and times of this most complex man. While the lightbulb was surely one of his most well-known inventions, Edison was always thinking up new and exciting things to better the world. Averaging one US patent every 12 days of his adult life, Edison was passionate in his ventures, which seemed to change drastically every decade. By dividing the book into parts that loosely depict these scientific ventures, Morris explores the attention to detail that Edison undertook. He was keen to stay ahead of the trends and use his imagination to bring these ideas to life. With little formal scientific training, Edison baffled many around him with the detail and intricacy of his inventions. He proved to be not only an inventor, but also a businessman, manufacturer, family man, salesperson, and critique of others in the domain. What Morris explores is that Edison was also highly opinionated when it came to his interests, not caring who he upset or their notoriety in the world. Morris pairs this with Edison’s extreme deafness, which led to many interesting interactions with others, as well as curious steps taken throughout the experimental process. In a book that is full of Edison’s discoveries and advancements, the reader will discover just how much of an impact the man had on the world, and all because of his imagination paired with a determination to succeed. Recommended to those who love learning about all things scientific and innovation-related, as well as for the reader whose passion is in biographical tomes.
There is so much to learn about Thomas Edison, as shown in this thorough biography. Edmund Morris, award-winning author, does a fabulous job amassing a great deal of information in this singe tome, telling the wonderful aspects of Edison’s life, while constantly reminding the reader of his independence. Morris tackles the book in a series of parts, dividing Edison’s explorations in decade chunks. This is highly effective, as it gives the reader some context and allows the themes to effectively divide the book. Within each part, Morris explores the scores of inventions and plotting that Edison did, linking different decades together with ease. However, as if in a response to a quote by Edison’s daughter found in the introduction, Morris sheds a great deal of light on the man behind the inventions, offering up a great deal of raw truths about that man’s life and personal connections with other, rather than simply the inventor whose made ideas spilled out so readily. In an oddity that I have not seen in other biographies, Morris works in reverse chronology with these aforementioned parts of the book, beginning with the 1920s and working backwards. This proves to be somewhat confusing for the reader used to linear development of a person’s life, with children and grandchildren appearing in the beginning and turning to babies or non-existent throughout. I have not looked to see what others thought of this technique, but it seemed to work well for me. I picked up quickly on names and locales, looking to see when they entered the narrative later (earlier?) in the book. Each part stands as its own massive chapter, with smaller vignettes within them to keep the reader intrigued and not overwhelmed. Morris shows his superior writing style by presenting a great deal of technical information in an easy to digest format and keeping the story intriguing throughout. I have decided to read a little more about Edison and his life-long friendship with Henry Ford in another tome, but felt this was a wonderful start.
Kudos, Mr. Morris, for a wonderful biography of a sensational man.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
There is so much to learn about Thomas Edison, as shown in this thorough biography. Edmund Morris, award-winning author, does a fabulous job amassing a great deal of information in this singe tome, telling the wonderful aspects of Edison’s life, while constantly reminding the reader of his independence. Morris tackles the book in a series of parts, dividing Edison’s explorations in decade chunks. This is highly effective, as it gives the reader some context and allows the themes to effectively divide the book. Within each part, Morris explores the scores of inventions and plotting that Edison did, linking different decades together with ease. However, as if in a response to a quote by Edison’s daughter found in the introduction, Morris sheds a great deal of light on the man behind the inventions, offering up a great deal of raw truths about that man’s life and personal connections with other, rather than simply the inventor whose made ideas spilled out so readily. In an oddity that I have not seen in other biographies, Morris works in reverse chronology with these aforementioned parts of the book, beginning with the 1920s and working backwards. This proves to be somewhat confusing for the reader used to linear development of a person’s life, with children and grandchildren appearing in the beginning and turning to babies or non-existent throughout. I have not looked to see what others thought of this technique, but it seemed to work well for me. I picked up quickly on names and locales, looking to see when they entered the narrative later (earlier?) in the book. Each part stands as its own massive chapter, with smaller vignettes within them to keep the reader intrigued and not overwhelmed. Morris shows his superior writing style by presenting a great deal of technical information in an easy to digest format and keeping the story intriguing throughout. I have decided to read a little more about Edison and his life-long friendship with Henry Ford in another tome, but felt this was a wonderful start.
Kudos, Mr. Morris, for a wonderful biography of a sensational man.
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
December 8, 2019
As a boy growing up there was a time when I read the biographies of famous persons. The Wright Brothers. Alexander Graham Bell. And of course Thomas Alva Edison. The books that I read then were geared towards a child and were light and not too technical. Edmund Morris's biography is very deep, extensively researched, and at times technical. Edison was much more than the inventor of the first practical incandescent lamp, phonograph, and motion pictures. This tome brings to life the man I did not know. The botanist. The miner. The founder of nearly 250 companies. The husband and father.
As many other reviewers have noted Edmund Morris presents this biography in reverse order. That is it starts with his death in 1931. Each subsequent chapter is a previous decade and subject. Botany - 1920 - 1929, Defense - 1910 - 1919, Chemistry - 1900 - 1909, Magnetism - 1890 - 1899, Light - 1880 - 1889, Sound - 1870 - 1879, Telegraphy - 1860 - 1869, Natural Philosophy - 1847 - 1859.
I found this somewhat disconcerting. For instance in an early chapter he already knew Henry Ford and Benjamin Goodrich. In the next chapter he meets Ford for the first time and Goodrich is unknown. Also, Edison had a life long interest in sound. It was not just a passing interest in one decade and then he moved on to a different field. One of things I learned was that Edison made up for his deafness by sometimes biting on an object.
As a child Edison was a bit of a misfit in school. Much of his learning came from being taught by his mother. There was an instance in his childhood where he went swimming with a friend. The friend went under. Edison waited awhile and when his friend didn't come up Edison went home. I sometimes wondered what would have happened if Edison had grown up in today's society. He would probably be diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and medicated with something like ritalin. Instead he started his first business when he was twelve years old (selling candy and fruit on a train), patented 1,093 inventions, and brought light into the world. Despite his genius and all of his accomplishments Edison was human and Edmund Morris helps us understand the man.
As many other reviewers have noted Edmund Morris presents this biography in reverse order. That is it starts with his death in 1931. Each subsequent chapter is a previous decade and subject. Botany - 1920 - 1929, Defense - 1910 - 1919, Chemistry - 1900 - 1909, Magnetism - 1890 - 1899, Light - 1880 - 1889, Sound - 1870 - 1879, Telegraphy - 1860 - 1869, Natural Philosophy - 1847 - 1859.
I found this somewhat disconcerting. For instance in an early chapter he already knew Henry Ford and Benjamin Goodrich. In the next chapter he meets Ford for the first time and Goodrich is unknown. Also, Edison had a life long interest in sound. It was not just a passing interest in one decade and then he moved on to a different field. One of things I learned was that Edison made up for his deafness by sometimes biting on an object.
As a child Edison was a bit of a misfit in school. Much of his learning came from being taught by his mother. There was an instance in his childhood where he went swimming with a friend. The friend went under. Edison waited awhile and when his friend didn't come up Edison went home. I sometimes wondered what would have happened if Edison had grown up in today's society. He would probably be diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and medicated with something like ritalin. Instead he started his first business when he was twelve years old (selling candy and fruit on a train), patented 1,093 inventions, and brought light into the world. Despite his genius and all of his accomplishments Edison was human and Edmund Morris helps us understand the man.
December 3, 2019
There are certain conventions and norms that one expects when writing a biography. The biography is either going to be written chronologically or (less frequently) thematically. Those are the approaches that people know and are familiar. To do it any other way requires a skilled writer and a supportive editor/publisher.
Edmund Morris is a skilled writer. This is the fourth book that I have read by him. The first three (on Roosevelt) all received 5 stars from me and one earned Morris the Pulitzer Prize. Morris chose to break convention and write his biography largely in reverse chronological order.
This is either a stroke of genius or idiocy.
Unfortunately, in this case it was the later.
By tracing his life from the end to the beginning, one misses key aspects of certain event. The backstory that helps you understand the significance of an event is covered either briefly or not at all. Early in the book you feel dropped into a situation---for example, the electrocution of the elephant Topsy. As the book is written in reverse order, you encounter the elephant’s death without understanding the rivalry between AC and DC power. You do not know about the battles with Tesla or Edison’s being forced out of his own company. These events are told in earlier--- I mean later---chapters. As such Morris is forced to spend more time setting the scenario of Topsy’s death. It also means that when you learn about issues that occurred earlier in Edison’s life, you sit there wishing that you had that perspective when you read about the later event.
This was a frequent experience. Morris spent more time than necessary covering the back story of events at the end of Edison’s life, that you learn about at the end of the book. When you learn about the antecedent events it is not an ah-ha moment, but rather, “I wish I knew that when I he covered a later period of Edison’s life.”
The end of the book often felt as if he was foreshadowing events that he had already covered in great detail---“this was the first time he considered mining” or he was told that if he ever experienced a full solar eclipse that it would last just minutes.
By the time I finished the book, I had grown convinced that the editor made a mistake and put the chapters in the wrong order!
Yes, Morris (who recently passed away) was one of the greats---but his editors or publishers should have told him no. They should have said, “We know you won a Pulitzer, but this does not work.” His editors and publishers failed him. This book had the promise of being very good, but structurally it failed.
The editors and publishers deserve additional scorn for the way they handled the audio book. I think they realized that having the book written in reverse chronology would be difficult to follow, so they kept each chapter in the audio book tied to a decade of his life. This means that each audio chapter is up to 6 hours in length. If you accidentally forward or rewind an audio chapter, it is extremely difficult and time consuming to find you place.
Edmund Morris is a skilled writer. This is the fourth book that I have read by him. The first three (on Roosevelt) all received 5 stars from me and one earned Morris the Pulitzer Prize. Morris chose to break convention and write his biography largely in reverse chronological order.
This is either a stroke of genius or idiocy.
Unfortunately, in this case it was the later.
By tracing his life from the end to the beginning, one misses key aspects of certain event. The backstory that helps you understand the significance of an event is covered either briefly or not at all. Early in the book you feel dropped into a situation---for example, the electrocution of the elephant Topsy. As the book is written in reverse order, you encounter the elephant’s death without understanding the rivalry between AC and DC power. You do not know about the battles with Tesla or Edison’s being forced out of his own company. These events are told in earlier--- I mean later---chapters. As such Morris is forced to spend more time setting the scenario of Topsy’s death. It also means that when you learn about issues that occurred earlier in Edison’s life, you sit there wishing that you had that perspective when you read about the later event.
This was a frequent experience. Morris spent more time than necessary covering the back story of events at the end of Edison’s life, that you learn about at the end of the book. When you learn about the antecedent events it is not an ah-ha moment, but rather, “I wish I knew that when I he covered a later period of Edison’s life.”
The end of the book often felt as if he was foreshadowing events that he had already covered in great detail---“this was the first time he considered mining” or he was told that if he ever experienced a full solar eclipse that it would last just minutes.
By the time I finished the book, I had grown convinced that the editor made a mistake and put the chapters in the wrong order!
Yes, Morris (who recently passed away) was one of the greats---but his editors or publishers should have told him no. They should have said, “We know you won a Pulitzer, but this does not work.” His editors and publishers failed him. This book had the promise of being very good, but structurally it failed.
The editors and publishers deserve additional scorn for the way they handled the audio book. I think they realized that having the book written in reverse chronology would be difficult to follow, so they kept each chapter in the audio book tied to a decade of his life. This means that each audio chapter is up to 6 hours in length. If you accidentally forward or rewind an audio chapter, it is extremely difficult and time consuming to find you place.
April 29, 2020
Edison by Edmund Morris was a comprehensive and meticulously researched biography of Thomas Alva Edison. While Morris is one of our most esteemed biographers, this was a book that he chose to write in reverse chronological order, why I'm not sure, and due to his sudden death last year I'm not sure anyone can answer that question, but it was disconcerting. While I must admit that as a child I would leap to the end of the book once I had a good idea of who the characters were and what the plot was, I managed to overcome that temptation. Well, Edison was my childhood fantasy restored; I started at the end of Thomas Edison's life and made my way backward, a decade at a time. While some people chose to start at the end of the book and read each decade forward, I read it as written hoping to understand how this enhanced the biography of this most amazing man. Perhaps it was to have his two greatest inventions, the phonograph and the electric light bulb highlighted and explored toward the end of the book for a greater impact, but I'm not sure. I just know that Edmund Morris will be missed.
"Everything on earth depends on will. I never had an idea in my life. I've got no imagination. I never dream. My so-called inventions already existed in the environment--I took them out. I've created nothing. Nobody does There's no such thing as an idea being brain-born; everything comes from the outside." -- Thomas Alva Edison
"It's the way the world goes--the young push ahead and do things, and the old stand back. I hope I'll always be with the young." -- Thomas Alva Edison, 1912
"You do not know what the Edison electric light in a house is until you have seen the pendant globes, spreading uninterrupted radiance on all beneath and around. There was a merry company, full of life and triumph. An Italian gentleman sang a Neapolitan impromptu to his own accompaniment. Young ladies whirled in the waltz. . . .We went down to the depot, and as the train came thundering by to bring us to the city, the jingle of sleigh bells rang over the snow from near the Professor's house, for there is no pleasure at Menlo Park like sleighing by electric lights when the public has gone away." -- The New York Herald, 1881
"Everything on earth depends on will. I never had an idea in my life. I've got no imagination. I never dream. My so-called inventions already existed in the environment--I took them out. I've created nothing. Nobody does There's no such thing as an idea being brain-born; everything comes from the outside." -- Thomas Alva Edison
"It's the way the world goes--the young push ahead and do things, and the old stand back. I hope I'll always be with the young." -- Thomas Alva Edison, 1912
"You do not know what the Edison electric light in a house is until you have seen the pendant globes, spreading uninterrupted radiance on all beneath and around. There was a merry company, full of life and triumph. An Italian gentleman sang a Neapolitan impromptu to his own accompaniment. Young ladies whirled in the waltz. . . .We went down to the depot, and as the train came thundering by to bring us to the city, the jingle of sleigh bells rang over the snow from near the Professor's house, for there is no pleasure at Menlo Park like sleighing by electric lights when the public has gone away." -- The New York Herald, 1881
October 27, 2022
3 Stars for Edison (audiobook) by Edmund Morris read by Author Morey.
The author did an amazing job with the research and the narration was great but the reverse chronological order just drove me crazy. Every time I was really getting into the story it stops and it jumps back a decade. It just destroys the flow. If you want to read this book I recommend starting with the last chapter first and working your way forward.
The author did an amazing job with the research and the narration was great but the reverse chronological order just drove me crazy. Every time I was really getting into the story it stops and it jumps back a decade. It just destroys the flow. If you want to read this book I recommend starting with the last chapter first and working your way forward.
October 23, 2019
I do not agree with the decision to present Edison’s life in reverse chronology. Maybe I’ll try another biography some day.
January 19, 2022
A fascinating nonfiction book from an elite author on a remarkable man. So many inventions, lightbulb, phonograph and many improvements to telegraph and telephones. The Pulitzer Prize winner author, Morris brilliantly breaks down his inventions from start to finish and not followed his many patents which gives the book much more sense.
Edison was a horrible businessman and could not read a balance sheet and was close to bankruptcy more times than not. A slacker son who bore his name was also a tremendous fly in his ointment.
A must read for history buffs.
Edison was a horrible businessman and could not read a balance sheet and was close to bankruptcy more times than not. A slacker son who bore his name was also a tremendous fly in his ointment.
A must read for history buffs.
Read
October 29, 2019I reviewed this biography of Thomas Edison for "The New Yorker." You can read the review, which takes into account some other writing about him, here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
September 26, 2019
Edmund Morris is the author of the three Theodore Roosevelt biographies as well as the really good Ronald Reagan one. I am very sad to say he passed away just this past May.
Thomas Edison was a driven man. He was constantly inventing and patenting new ideas or as he would say, he brought them out in the open, they were always there. He had a new invention about every 11 days, with over 1,000 in his lifetime.
Best known for bringing us into the light, he was a man with a singular need to invent, to experiment, to push the boundaries of what was known. He was a man who needed little sleep or food and expected those around him to work the same punishing hours as he did. He did not suffer fools lightly and like a lot of geniuses who are laser-focused on what they see as their calling, his family life suffered.
We see the husband, the father, the friend. A man who was headstrong. He started 250 businesses, so you can imagine he might have been a distant father. He made no secret that he thought his children were lacking in every way.
I have read many biographies of Edison, most of which centered on his works and patents. I don't think he was a deliberately cold man, he was a man possessed with a need to create, to push boundaries and with that type of mind, relationships and family take a back seat.
The research that went into this work is astounding. This is a book I will have and re-read for a long time.
NetGalley/Random House (October 22, 2019)
Thomas Edison was a driven man. He was constantly inventing and patenting new ideas or as he would say, he brought them out in the open, they were always there. He had a new invention about every 11 days, with over 1,000 in his lifetime.
Best known for bringing us into the light, he was a man with a singular need to invent, to experiment, to push the boundaries of what was known. He was a man who needed little sleep or food and expected those around him to work the same punishing hours as he did. He did not suffer fools lightly and like a lot of geniuses who are laser-focused on what they see as their calling, his family life suffered.
We see the husband, the father, the friend. A man who was headstrong. He started 250 businesses, so you can imagine he might have been a distant father. He made no secret that he thought his children were lacking in every way.
I have read many biographies of Edison, most of which centered on his works and patents. I don't think he was a deliberately cold man, he was a man possessed with a need to create, to push boundaries and with that type of mind, relationships and family take a back seat.
The research that went into this work is astounding. This is a book I will have and re-read for a long time.
NetGalley/Random House (October 22, 2019)
January 14, 2020
“I would say to one particular atom in me—call it atom No. 4320—‘Go and be part of a rose for a while.’ All the atoms could be sent off to become parts of different minerals, plants, and other substances. Then, if by just pressing a little push button they could be called together again, they would bring back their experiences while they were parts of those different substances, and I would have the benefit of the knowledge.” Morris, Edmund. Edison. P. 495. (2019)
Edmund Morris’s biography of Thomas Edison brings to life all sides of the genius’s character. His lifelong curiosity about how things work, his ability to dream up new devices, his ability to focus deeply on achieving his goal, and his legendary capacity for hard work.
Readers will learn not only about Edison’s many inventions, his incredible number of patents, but more importantly how his work has changed they way we live. Morris chooses to tell the story of Edison’s life in reverse. Beginning with his diabetes, stomach ailments, and the severe hearing loss he dealt with all his life, Morris chronicles Edison’s business success and failures through the years. As Edison’s physical health wained, his strong desire to continue finding solutions to problems maintained its dominant hold on his life. A man more at home in his laboratory than at home with wife and children. He was married twice and had children from two marriages. His first wife died at age 28 leaving him a widower with 3 young children.
Edison’s early years were marked by people mistaking his power of concentration or day dreaming for slowness or an inability to comprehend daily life as others do. Educated at home by his mother, due to difficulty fitting in at school, Edison is in large part that rare breed of self educated man. Moving through the biography, readers will see Edison’s ability through reading to gather information about whatever area he was interested in whether it is electricity, mining, or botany. A true life long learner.
- [ ] If you read nothing else in this biography, read Morris’s Epilogue.
For in it, he evokes the tremendous sense of loss felt through out the United States at Edison’s death. A sense of loss felt only in my lifetime with the death of President Kennedy. A brilliant writer and biographer Morris is now lost to us as well having died in May 2019.
Edmund Morris’s biography of Thomas Edison brings to life all sides of the genius’s character. His lifelong curiosity about how things work, his ability to dream up new devices, his ability to focus deeply on achieving his goal, and his legendary capacity for hard work.
Readers will learn not only about Edison’s many inventions, his incredible number of patents, but more importantly how his work has changed they way we live. Morris chooses to tell the story of Edison’s life in reverse. Beginning with his diabetes, stomach ailments, and the severe hearing loss he dealt with all his life, Morris chronicles Edison’s business success and failures through the years. As Edison’s physical health wained, his strong desire to continue finding solutions to problems maintained its dominant hold on his life. A man more at home in his laboratory than at home with wife and children. He was married twice and had children from two marriages. His first wife died at age 28 leaving him a widower with 3 young children.
Edison’s early years were marked by people mistaking his power of concentration or day dreaming for slowness or an inability to comprehend daily life as others do. Educated at home by his mother, due to difficulty fitting in at school, Edison is in large part that rare breed of self educated man. Moving through the biography, readers will see Edison’s ability through reading to gather information about whatever area he was interested in whether it is electricity, mining, or botany. A true life long learner.
- [ ] If you read nothing else in this biography, read Morris’s Epilogue.
For in it, he evokes the tremendous sense of loss felt through out the United States at Edison’s death. A sense of loss felt only in my lifetime with the death of President Kennedy. A brilliant writer and biographer Morris is now lost to us as well having died in May 2019.
May 14, 2020
Edmund Morris was a wonderful author. This was his final book and was published posthumously. Morris and/or his editor made a very controversial decision with this book. All of the events of Thomas Edison's life are presented in reverse chronology.
This technique has been used before in cinema to great effect like in Memento or Irreversible. In both of those, the reversal was key to the narrative and necessary to make them work. Why...OH WHY...was Edison in reverse chronology??!!
There was nothing particularly cyclical about his life. He turned into a much worse asshole later so maybe Morris wanted the reader to like him because he got nicer as the book went along? I literally have no idea. It made reading it such a needless chore. Here's my impression of most of the book:
"And then this guy did something and I think we all know what that means. Anyways, since his wife died he was very sad and then invented something and accidentally hurt himself just like earlier, you remember, right?"
WHAT...THE...FUCK. No, I don't remember, because I haven't read about it yet. I don't know which characters are important and which one's aren't. Oh that other guy just died? Who the fuck was he? Did his death effect Edison? Who the fuck knows!?
I have a friend who got frustrated and just read the book backwards. I refused to do that because that is not how the book was presented. That would be like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure straight through. That's not what the author wanted you to do so I don't do it.
Such a sad swan song for him to go out on.
This technique has been used before in cinema to great effect like in Memento or Irreversible. In both of those, the reversal was key to the narrative and necessary to make them work. Why...OH WHY...was Edison in reverse chronology??!!
There was nothing particularly cyclical about his life. He turned into a much worse asshole later so maybe Morris wanted the reader to like him because he got nicer as the book went along? I literally have no idea. It made reading it such a needless chore. Here's my impression of most of the book:
"And then this guy did something and I think we all know what that means. Anyways, since his wife died he was very sad and then invented something and accidentally hurt himself just like earlier, you remember, right?"
WHAT...THE...FUCK. No, I don't remember, because I haven't read about it yet. I don't know which characters are important and which one's aren't. Oh that other guy just died? Who the fuck was he? Did his death effect Edison? Who the fuck knows!?
I have a friend who got frustrated and just read the book backwards. I refused to do that because that is not how the book was presented. That would be like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure straight through. That's not what the author wanted you to do so I don't do it.
Such a sad swan song for him to go out on.
February 12, 2020
I read Edison because 1) I have an interest in T. Edison and; 2) I thoroughly enjoyed the Edmund Morris Theodore Roosevelt trilogy. I've seen several reviews that criticized the reverse chronological order style that the author chose to use. I didn't particularly like the reverse chronology, but it wasn't that big a deal for me. Unfortunately, I think the book could have done with a stronger editing job. There was a bit too much fluff included for me.
That said, I'm glad I read Edison and did enjoy. I came away with a much better understanding of Edison the person vs Edison the genius inventor.
That said, I'm glad I read Edison and did enjoy. I came away with a much better understanding of Edison the person vs Edison the genius inventor.
September 8, 2022
4.5 rounded up.. I really don’t understand why this rates so low. The reverse decade chronology is a bit weird, but if it’s that disconcerting you could always read in reverse chapter order. It’s very well researched and I learned a lot more about Edison than I expected. A lot of the conspiracy theories are debunked which I thought was interesting. As an electrical engineer I found the subject matter fascinating. With very limited formal education he just dreamt up concepts I was learning about in school over a 100 years later… Wow! Full RTC 😀
October 13, 2019
More than just an inventor!
Thanks to Amazon Vine, NetGally and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Edison by Edmund Morris.
This eight hundred page book is an interesting read and engaged me easily with the history of Thomas Alva Edison. This fascinating man was so much more than just an inventor and the author conducted extensive research to bring Edison to life for us! I just wish the book had an index for research accessibility because this is the main reason for wanting this biography of Thomas Alva Edison, using it for research that our library students have to conduct to complete their annual research paper. All-in-all, a great read because the author has taken the facts about Edison and made them appealing and compelling!
Thanks to Amazon Vine, NetGally and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Edison by Edmund Morris.
This eight hundred page book is an interesting read and engaged me easily with the history of Thomas Alva Edison. This fascinating man was so much more than just an inventor and the author conducted extensive research to bring Edison to life for us! I just wish the book had an index for research accessibility because this is the main reason for wanting this biography of Thomas Alva Edison, using it for research that our library students have to conduct to complete their annual research paper. All-in-all, a great read because the author has taken the facts about Edison and made them appealing and compelling!
November 10, 2019
Ye gads, NO!!!
There was a creative new angle for Morris in penning the life of Edison (see end of review) but not the one he actually took.
No, this just doesn’t work.
I’ve read an occasional non-chronological, thematically organized biography. Where it’s not intended to be an introductory biography, and may be somewhat professionally targeted, such as Heiko Oberman’s Luther bio, it can work well.
I have never read a reverse chronological biography, and now, I’ll never try another.
First, this is the same Edmund Morris who invented a fictional character for his Reagan bio and claimed it was because he couldn’t grasp Reagan. That would seem to be a lie, and that idea mainly just a literary conceit as is the reverse chronology here.
Critics slammed Morris for that.
Speaking of? You won’t see any blurbs — none at all — on the back cover here. Yes, I know he died earlier this year. Nonetheless, this isn’t a novel dependent on the author’s name, and even if there were some degree of rush, galley proofs would have been ready by May.
So, either Random House quailed at sending it to Kirkus, NY Review of Books, etc., or else it did and they slammed it.
That also doesn’t look good.
As for the book itself, you could do as one other low-star reviewer suggests and read it in normal chronological order, ie, reverse chapter order.
However, some placement-early chapters may refer forward, or is that backward, to late-placement, but earlier-chronology, chapters.
Second problem, and one that an “artiste” biographer like Morris should never have stepped into, if he is indeed such an “artiste.” Lives don’t divide on precise decadal lines, and certainly not “one decade = one theme.” It looks like he tried to take a thematic approach, a la Oberman to Luther, and straitjacket it inside a chronological format. And that on top of doing the reverse chronology.
The sad thing?
I’d never before read much about Edison’s personal life, other than his hanging out with Ford and Firestone.
I didn’t know he was married twice. Nor that his namesake eldest son from his first marriage was a wastrel. Nor that he, and to some degree all the children of the first marriage, were written off by not only Edison’s second wife, but Edison himself.
It seems like there was potential for a HUGE biography of Edison the person first, inventor second. And Morris blew it. What I have learned about Edison the person is the only reason I didn’t one-star this book.
Maybe somebody will come along and do the bio Morris could and should have done.
There was a creative new angle for Morris in penning the life of Edison (see end of review) but not the one he actually took.
No, this just doesn’t work.
I’ve read an occasional non-chronological, thematically organized biography. Where it’s not intended to be an introductory biography, and may be somewhat professionally targeted, such as Heiko Oberman’s Luther bio, it can work well.
I have never read a reverse chronological biography, and now, I’ll never try another.
First, this is the same Edmund Morris who invented a fictional character for his Reagan bio and claimed it was because he couldn’t grasp Reagan. That would seem to be a lie, and that idea mainly just a literary conceit as is the reverse chronology here.
Critics slammed Morris for that.
Speaking of? You won’t see any blurbs — none at all — on the back cover here. Yes, I know he died earlier this year. Nonetheless, this isn’t a novel dependent on the author’s name, and even if there were some degree of rush, galley proofs would have been ready by May.
So, either Random House quailed at sending it to Kirkus, NY Review of Books, etc., or else it did and they slammed it.
That also doesn’t look good.
As for the book itself, you could do as one other low-star reviewer suggests and read it in normal chronological order, ie, reverse chapter order.
However, some placement-early chapters may refer forward, or is that backward, to late-placement, but earlier-chronology, chapters.
Second problem, and one that an “artiste” biographer like Morris should never have stepped into, if he is indeed such an “artiste.” Lives don’t divide on precise decadal lines, and certainly not “one decade = one theme.” It looks like he tried to take a thematic approach, a la Oberman to Luther, and straitjacket it inside a chronological format. And that on top of doing the reverse chronology.
The sad thing?
I’d never before read much about Edison’s personal life, other than his hanging out with Ford and Firestone.
I didn’t know he was married twice. Nor that his namesake eldest son from his first marriage was a wastrel. Nor that he, and to some degree all the children of the first marriage, were written off by not only Edison’s second wife, but Edison himself.
It seems like there was potential for a HUGE biography of Edison the person first, inventor second. And Morris blew it. What I have learned about Edison the person is the only reason I didn’t one-star this book.
Maybe somebody will come along and do the bio Morris could and should have done.
October 7, 2019
Edmund Morris has an uncanny ability to put you in the world he's writing about. I'm a huge fan of his Roosevelt biography, so I was very excited to receive this book from Goodreads as an advance copy ahead of publication. It did not disappoint. The format is unique, it is written from the end of his life to the beginning in reverse order. At first I was unsure but it turned out to be one of the best parts of the book. Normally I dread reading the first part of any biography as it's a slog through the childhood sections to get to the part you really want to read. This method got directly to the most interesting part of this incredible man's life. Edison is a fascinating biography due to the subject matter, but Mr. Morris' skill takes this book to a different level. Highly recommended.
November 21, 2019
I don't know what possessed the author to invert his narrative but the end result was to make this biography of Edison a complete slog. seriously I don't think I achieved any insight into Edison or his process. Would it have been different if the story of his childhood and youth came first? Maybe but after forcing myself through all those pages I really wasn't in the mood to rethink or reread the earlier pages. I have had some personal experience hanging with 'inventors' and I do know it takes more than having a 'good idea' to engender a technological revolution like Edison's inventions have. Contrasting this book to Walter Isaacson's bio of Steve Job's--the later was so much more insightful about the man and also his creations and vision really. I was disappointed.
March 28, 2020
Morris, who died in 2019, was a distinguished historian who wrote outstanding biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Beethoven. This book is in-depth, running more than 700 pages with an extensive bibliography and notes.
While there's much information on Edison's eccentricities and an overwhelming amount of technical information on his more than 1,000 inventions, I was disappointed to find Morris had virtually nothing to say about Edison's time in my home area, Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region.
At the invitation of a group of potential investors, Edison came to my hometown, Shamokin, Northumberland County, in 1882. He took up residence in town and supervised construction of a power plant. He also licensed an electric company in Sunbury, the county seat, with other investors.
Our county seat was the world's first community to be electrified via a three-wire coal-fired plant on July 4, 1883. On Sept. 22, Edison returned to Shamokin to switch on the power for Shamokin. On that date, St. Edward's Catholic Church became the first church in the world to be lighted by electricity.
Edison went on to license electric plants in other Pennsylvania communities, including Mount Carmel, Ashland, Pottsville, Williamsport and Harrisburg. I found no mention of any of this in the Morris biography. The only reference I found to our communities was in a list of agreements with municipalities which included 1,600 lights for Shamokin and 500 for Sunbury.
While there's much information on Edison's eccentricities and an overwhelming amount of technical information on his more than 1,000 inventions, I was disappointed to find Morris had virtually nothing to say about Edison's time in my home area, Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region.
At the invitation of a group of potential investors, Edison came to my hometown, Shamokin, Northumberland County, in 1882. He took up residence in town and supervised construction of a power plant. He also licensed an electric company in Sunbury, the county seat, with other investors.
Our county seat was the world's first community to be electrified via a three-wire coal-fired plant on July 4, 1883. On Sept. 22, Edison returned to Shamokin to switch on the power for Shamokin. On that date, St. Edward's Catholic Church became the first church in the world to be lighted by electricity.
Edison went on to license electric plants in other Pennsylvania communities, including Mount Carmel, Ashland, Pottsville, Williamsport and Harrisburg. I found no mention of any of this in the Morris biography. The only reference I found to our communities was in a list of agreements with municipalities which included 1,600 lights for Shamokin and 500 for Sunbury.
Read
August 11, 2019I received free uncorrected proofs of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. I had previously read and enjoyed one of Edmund Morris’s books on Theodore Roosevelt, so I was confident that I would enjoy this book (Morris’s last – he died in May 2019). I was correct; the book is well-researched, written in a lively, readable style, and does a reasonably good job of explaining scientific concepts to lay people. I was really impressed by the author’s ability to convey how much of Edison’s success (which is what we remember today) rested on extensive trial and error, learning from multiple failures, and obsessive workaholism. My one complaint about the book is that for some reason, Morris has elected to tell the story backwards. We begin with Edison’s death, then travel successively through the 1920s, 1910s, etc., back to his birth in 1847. Within each decade, we move forward in time, but at the end of the 1920s, we suddenly go from 1929 to the next chapter, which begins 19 years earlier in 1910. The effect is choppy. Edison, and the author, are constantly having to remember and refer to events that, for the reader, haven’t happened yet. Friendships or business relationships end in one chapter and begin in the next. Edison is married to one woman in 1899, and then – a page later – it’s 1880 and he’s married to a different woman. I’m not sure what possessed Morris to structure the book this way; perhaps he did so because the most interesting inventions happen when Edison is fairly young, and in a strictly chronological book, that would have happened early and the rest of the book might have seemed anti-climactic. But it comes off as gimmicky and not very reader-friendly.
March 24, 2022
I chose this book as a natural follow-up to being so impressed with Edmund Morris's amazing trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt. But perhaps Edison is just not as interesting a character as TR and despite his achievements, which were remarkable, Edison's life was often man against machine in technical isolation. I also found the backward chronology very confusing.
So Edison was viewed as a very strange boy with an unusually large head when he was at school. He was so 'unusual' (thank God for unusual people) his mother had to take him out of school and teach him at home. He went almost deaf when he was 12 but in most respects he used this disability as a way of creating isolation for himself to concentrate on his inventions. Maybe he wouldn't have quite been the 'genius' without his disability. This left me wondering how many potential geniuses out there never quite made it.
He was totally dedicated. He worked 18 hours a day every single day, didn't care whether it was night or day and simply rolled up his suit jacket when he was tired and used it as a pillow. He hardly ate. He didn't even bother changing the suit. He didn't care about money, he neglected his family, but he still had a good sense of humour. He once challenged his friend Henry Ford to who could kick the highest to break the glass of a chandelier. Although Edison was older, he still won and was more proud of that than some of his inventions.
Despite the jumble the reverse order of this book causes it is typical of Edmund Morris in depth of content and research and gives the reader not only detailed descriptions of Edison but of the whole time in which Edison lived.
So Edison was viewed as a very strange boy with an unusually large head when he was at school. He was so 'unusual' (thank God for unusual people) his mother had to take him out of school and teach him at home. He went almost deaf when he was 12 but in most respects he used this disability as a way of creating isolation for himself to concentrate on his inventions. Maybe he wouldn't have quite been the 'genius' without his disability. This left me wondering how many potential geniuses out there never quite made it.
He was totally dedicated. He worked 18 hours a day every single day, didn't care whether it was night or day and simply rolled up his suit jacket when he was tired and used it as a pillow. He hardly ate. He didn't even bother changing the suit. He didn't care about money, he neglected his family, but he still had a good sense of humour. He once challenged his friend Henry Ford to who could kick the highest to break the glass of a chandelier. Although Edison was older, he still won and was more proud of that than some of his inventions.
Despite the jumble the reverse order of this book causes it is typical of Edmund Morris in depth of content and research and gives the reader not only detailed descriptions of Edison but of the whole time in which Edison lived.
May 21, 2023
FINALLY
It has been a busy few months finishing up school so I haven't been able to finish this one for over a year but it is finally done!
I thought the writer did a really good job of finding lots of details about Edison's life besides all the basics that everyone knows and we really got to know his personality and living habits. The writer did an interesting thing where his story is told in reverse order, starting at the end of his life and working "backward." The reason I put quotes around backward is because it's not really told in reverse order, it is told in decades which forces the author to make these big 20-year jumps at the end of each section (i.e. from 1879 at the end of the 1870-79 chapter to 1860 for the next chapter that covers 1860-69). This has two effects: firstly in chapters at the beginning of the book, there are a whole bunch of characters in his life that have no meaning to the reader because they haven't been properly introduced yet and instead the author often writes ("See Chapter X"). Secondly, I often forget details that "just happened" because of these big jumps that separate neighbouring years by sometimes over 200 pages.
Overall though, I enjoyed the book I just wish it was told chronologically for an easier reading experience.
It has been a busy few months finishing up school so I haven't been able to finish this one for over a year but it is finally done!
I thought the writer did a really good job of finding lots of details about Edison's life besides all the basics that everyone knows and we really got to know his personality and living habits. The writer did an interesting thing where his story is told in reverse order, starting at the end of his life and working "backward." The reason I put quotes around backward is because it's not really told in reverse order, it is told in decades which forces the author to make these big 20-year jumps at the end of each section (i.e. from 1879 at the end of the 1870-79 chapter to 1860 for the next chapter that covers 1860-69). This has two effects: firstly in chapters at the beginning of the book, there are a whole bunch of characters in his life that have no meaning to the reader because they haven't been properly introduced yet and instead the author often writes ("See Chapter X"). Secondly, I often forget details that "just happened" because of these big jumps that separate neighbouring years by sometimes over 200 pages.
Overall though, I enjoyed the book I just wish it was told chronologically for an easier reading experience.
January 10, 2020
The thing everyone writes about this biography is that Morris wrote it backwards. It starts with his death and each chapter is the previous decade of his life.
I liked this choice the further I got into the book, as it sets up Edison's greatest inventions (phonograph and light bulb) as a climax to the book. So much of his life afterwards was built around these two things, and the book deconstructs all of it as we read further into the book while moving earlier into his life. It creates a tension and excitement when you get to the moments, 3/4 of the way through the biography.
I also enjoyed how this book demystified Edison's scientific process. It was less "A-ha!" moments and more 18 hours days in his lab. It also shows the magic people felt from his inventions. They could hear audio recordings of famous people or loved ones after their deaths. They could easily see in their homes after dark without gas torches or candles. These were huge moments in the world, and Morris does a great job walking us through them.
I liked this choice the further I got into the book, as it sets up Edison's greatest inventions (phonograph and light bulb) as a climax to the book. So much of his life afterwards was built around these two things, and the book deconstructs all of it as we read further into the book while moving earlier into his life. It creates a tension and excitement when you get to the moments, 3/4 of the way through the biography.
I also enjoyed how this book demystified Edison's scientific process. It was less "A-ha!" moments and more 18 hours days in his lab. It also shows the magic people felt from his inventions. They could hear audio recordings of famous people or loved ones after their deaths. They could easily see in their homes after dark without gas torches or candles. These were huge moments in the world, and Morris does a great job walking us through them.
May 30, 2023
Okay - what a weird book. He is an incredibly talented writer! But, call me old-fashioned, but unless you a) read this in a continual fashion over a short time period (say less than 3 days), or b) really know the subject matter well (I sort of know Edison from a prior biography I read, or c) suffer from some sort of psychosis, writing this in REVERSE ORDER was really pointless.
I read bios of famous, accomplished, or brillaint people to try to see some of their insight, inspiration, or quirky genius. Not to see how he died, then go backwards by blocks of 10 years. That's right, starts in 1930 until his death, then GOES BACKWARD to 1920 for the next 10 years, then 1910, and so on.
I put it down so many times, then didn't remember what the heck happened to him even after I already read it before.
There has to be a better Edison bio out there. The two I've read were low-rated (by me). Help!
I read bios of famous, accomplished, or brillaint people to try to see some of their insight, inspiration, or quirky genius. Not to see how he died, then go backwards by blocks of 10 years. That's right, starts in 1930 until his death, then GOES BACKWARD to 1920 for the next 10 years, then 1910, and so on.
I put it down so many times, then didn't remember what the heck happened to him even after I already read it before.
There has to be a better Edison bio out there. The two I've read were low-rated (by me). Help!
February 10, 2023
Interesting read of course about a fascinating man. I did not love the format - they started at the very end of his life and went backwards in time. For me personally the story is more impactful to start from the beginning and travel with the individual through their journey - the result was to get invested in what was happening and then abruptly jumó backwards so that nothing you just read about matters, because suddenly it hasn’t happened yet.
October 28, 2021
A very interesting book and a fascinating look at such an unusual and influential man. I found the timeline very confusing, due to the reverse chronology the author chose to use, made more complicated by the very technical nature of the descriptions of Edison's inventions and life's work. However it was definitely worth reading and it was inspiring to read about how persistent and resilient Edison was, knowing him only in association with electricity I had no idea how many other ideas and areas he was involved in and how much he contributed to the way we live now.
January 30, 2020
What an impressive man, with over 1100 patents in a variety of fields. His National Park site in Orange NJ is one of the most inspirational of the many visited. The book is organized by decade in reverse order; for what reason I do not know. It made for some interesting surprises however. The cube of copper sitting in the corner gathering dust is explained in a later chapter (earlier in time) to have been a prize from a scientific academy.
March 27, 2023
I can't find many faults with this biography, except for its weird format. It chronicles Edison's life backwards, starting with his old age and ending with his birth. Other than that, it was very enlightening (no pun intended). The narrative was very engaging and lively. Although the book dealt with some highly technical terminology, it was relatively easy to follow. A worthy effort.
August 29, 2021
An interesting read indeed.
April 8, 2020
I would recommend reading this book if you appreciate biographies or have any interest in Edison. However, the author’s decision to write this biography in reverse historical chronology, with no explanation is baffling to me. I dare say that people who read biographies or history prefer to read it from beginning to end - whether they know something of the story or not. Midway through the book it was just plain annoying. By the end I was wondering when the explanation would come. What was the point? None that I can tell. So as well written and insightful as Edison is, you spend the entire read learning about people in his life whose origin in the timeline you have to wait later to know. Frustrating. If you remember who they were later in Edison’s life anyway - if that makes sense. Which it only does if you read a book backwards. I guess. Put it the right way and it’s five stars.
October 6, 2019
Thomas Alva Edison, known today primarily as the inventor of the lightbulb, spent his life researching, experimenting, and inventing devices in nearly every scientific field available to him over the course of his life. Edmund Morris' new biography takes a thoroughly-researched, detailed look into these aspects of Edison's life, hoping to leave readers (perhaps) with the sense of Edison as a Renaissance Man who unceasingly explored the world around him. The reader learns of Edison's tireless efforts to perfect phonograph recordings (although deaf himself), his proficiency with Morse code, as well as the creation of inventions that, even after Morris described them, I had no idea what they were for or what they did.
That is one of the issues I had with Edison. In his push to show the reader all of the work Edison did, Morris overwhelms the reader with scientific information in some places and underwhelms the reader in others. The main problem I had with Edison however, is that it is written backwards. Starting with his death in 1931, each part of the book covers about ten years of Edison's life, retreating backwards in time until he's born in 1847. This often made the reading choppy and the biography's progression difficult to follow. Partnerships, inventions, lawsuits, and personal relationships end before they begin and often Morris has to refer the reader to later parts in the book to cover the beginning of something he's now talking about ending. If there was a reason for writing the book that way, I couldn't tell what it was- except a desire to experiment and do something different. In this case different was certainly memorable, but not, for me, in a good way.
Glimpses of Edison the man manage to show through Edison the scientist or Edison the businessman but those glimpses don't give the reader much of an impression of who he was or what made him the way he was. The impressions we do get show us a perfectionist, a tyrant, and a control freak. Meeting Edison like this at the end of his life, I have a hard time knowing if I didn't like this book because I didn't like Edison as a person, and had no investment in who he would become or what he would do with his life because I saw it from the end on, or if it was the book itself.
Not a book I'd recommend for any but the most fervent of Edison admirers, and even then, I strongly recommend reading the book from end to beginning to try and make some sense out of it.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
That is one of the issues I had with Edison. In his push to show the reader all of the work Edison did, Morris overwhelms the reader with scientific information in some places and underwhelms the reader in others. The main problem I had with Edison however, is that it is written backwards. Starting with his death in 1931, each part of the book covers about ten years of Edison's life, retreating backwards in time until he's born in 1847. This often made the reading choppy and the biography's progression difficult to follow. Partnerships, inventions, lawsuits, and personal relationships end before they begin and often Morris has to refer the reader to later parts in the book to cover the beginning of something he's now talking about ending. If there was a reason for writing the book that way, I couldn't tell what it was- except a desire to experiment and do something different. In this case different was certainly memorable, but not, for me, in a good way.
Glimpses of Edison the man manage to show through Edison the scientist or Edison the businessman but those glimpses don't give the reader much of an impression of who he was or what made him the way he was. The impressions we do get show us a perfectionist, a tyrant, and a control freak. Meeting Edison like this at the end of his life, I have a hard time knowing if I didn't like this book because I didn't like Edison as a person, and had no investment in who he would become or what he would do with his life because I saw it from the end on, or if it was the book itself.
Not a book I'd recommend for any but the most fervent of Edison admirers, and even then, I strongly recommend reading the book from end to beginning to try and make some sense out of it.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
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