"In this historical thriller about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America, a young lawyer fresh out of Columbia Law School takes a case that seems impossible to win. His client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over who invented the light bulb"--
Read More
"In this historical thriller about the nature of genius, the cost of ambition, and the battle to electrify America, a young lawyer fresh out of Columbia Law School takes a case that seems impossible to win. His client, George Westinghouse, has been sued by Thomas Edison over who invented the light bulb"--
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. GoodFormer Library book. All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
It is an amazing feat for an author to turn a 'dry as bone' patent fight into high drama. However, that is just what Graham Moore did in this novel. My only complaint is that is fiction; at every plot twist, I found my wondering if it really happened. Some of the factual actions of the characters sounded like fiction. At the end of the book, the author explained where he'd made changes. Perhaps the best compliment I can share about this book is that it is so engrossing that I spent considerable time reading reference books and searching the Internet for verification of incidents and characters.
This is the billion dollar fight between business/investor titans George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over who invented the light bulb. Part of this conflict was the issue of alternate current (AC) vs. direct current (DC) -- that these giants were working on at the same time. I found the real star of the show to be Nicoli Tesla, a Serbian genius. He worked for each of the major inventors at differing times, but he was a troubled man with great creative powers. Like Paul Cravath, the narrator in the story, I wondered why he didn't get scurvy from his constant diet of saltine crackers and water.
Of all the major characters, I was sure that Paul Cravath was fiction. However, he really was a 26-year-old man who grew during this story to be able to match wits with these major business leaders -- and win. 4.5 stars