Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was expelled from school as 'mentally retarded.' His mother, a teacher, decided to educate him at home and told him: 'You are a genius.' That white lie became the prophecy he would fulfill for the rest of his life.This book covers the thrilling and contradictory story of the man who invented the modern world: the phonograph that captured sound, the light bulb that conquered the night, motion pictures that set images in motion, and the first power plant that illuminated Manhattan. But it also explores his shadows: the appropriation of his collaborators' talent, the bloody War of the Currents against Tesla and Westinghouse, and his collaboration on the electric chair.Between the myth of the solitary genius and the reality of the relentless entrepreneur, this eighth installment offers a complete, honest, and fascinating portrait of the man who, more than any other, defined the 20th century and still illuminates our present.