Empires of Light
Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World
by Jill Jonnes · first published 2003
60% recommend40% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Detailed, engaging history of electrification in the US, covering the Edison, Tesla and Westinghouse rivalry, the technical and business challenges, and the effect on everyday life.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I highly recommend Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes as an excellent book about this time. > Why go for this very broad market first? Why not build smaller generators in the basement of department stores, lighting up just single buildings…
on “Lightbulbs Were So Startup” ↗Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World, Jill Jonnes An extremely detailed and engaging book on how electricity was brought to the United States.
on “Ask HN: Favorite true story tech book?” ↗In no particular order. Empires of Light, by Jonnes. Titan, by Chernow. The Wright Brothers, by McCullough. His Excellency, by Ellis. The Wizard of Menlo Park, by Stross. I Invented the Modern Age, by Snow. Dealers of Lightning, by Hiltzik.…
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?” ↗Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes does a great job covering the rivalry between Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse over electrifying the world. I liked how it broke down the technical and business challenges and showed the…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗…by Malcolm Gladwell - Success mechanics. 32. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - Founding of Nike. 33. Black Hole Blues by Janna Levin - Building LIGO. 34. Freedom’s Forge - WWII industry mobilization. 35. Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes - Electrification by Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse. 36. The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough - Panama Canal construction. 37. Annapurna by Maurice Herzog - Climbing a Himalayan…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗You would probably like reading "Empires of Light" - one of the interesting insights I gained from that book was how important Westinghouse was to Tesla's success.
on “Tablets” ↗Interesting, if only because I've always been fascinated by the time period and events surrounding the adoption of electricity. A really interesting book about Edison and Tesla is "Empires of Light" by Jill Jones.
on “Nikola Tesla Wasn't God And Thomas Edison Wasn't The Devil” ↗I read a really interesting book lately called "Empires of Light" about the early days of electrically. Basically, people got electrocuted all the freaking time before we really figured out how to wire things safely. At one point there was a huge tangle of telegraph…
on “Tesla Model S autonomously crashes into a parked trailer while in ‘summon’ mode” ↗Along those lines, a personal favorite is Empires of Light, covering the race for electrification and lighting. It critically includes the role of George Westinghouse, which a lot of books leave out (typically focusing more on Tesla & Edison instead).
on “Gary Starkweather died on December 26, 2019” ↗I've heard good things about Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World. It is on my "to read" list. http://www.amazon.com/Empires-Light-Edison-Westinghouse-Elec...
on “Tesla Museum Gets Funded” ↗I donned my kneepads and washed my floors by hand two weeks prior while listening to Empires Of Light. Floors never looked better. Now I need another long, drawn out chore(or a roadtrip) to finish as I cannot just sit and listen to audiobooks unless I have a mindless task to keep me physically occupied.…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗…Cheny's research for the book. I wonder if anyone here has read Cheny's bio and any other biographies of Tesla to compare and contrast. I see a couple of them out there (1) Wizard by Marc Sefir; (2) Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes.
on “Nikola Tesla invention from 100 years ago suddenly makes more sense today” ↗…growth https://archive.org/details/electricalmanufa0000unse -- Hammond; Pound - Men and volts; the story of General electric https://archive.org/details/menandvoltsstory00hammrich -- Jonnes, Jill - Empires of light : Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the race to electrify the world https://archive.org/details/empiresoflighted0000jonn
on “Lightbulbs Were So Startup” ↗Does this book cover the business relationship that Tesla had with Westinghouse? The impression that I got from Empires of Light is that Tesla's "research" needed a lot of "design" by Westinghouse's engineers before they could be turned into practical, working designs. That makes sense at some level, but I'd love to read other…
on “Ask HN: Favorite true story tech book?” ↗