n  Ciò che mi ha davvero rallentato sono state le leggi della natura: il mondo non era ancora pronto. Il mio progetto precorreva troppo i tempi. Tuttavia le stesse leggi alla fine prevarranno e sarà un vero trionfo.n

Un genio troppo avanti per la sua epoca. Un'anima gentile, altruista. Martoriato da infinite sfighe e da mille #@%!*.



... e ovviamente me ne dovevo innamorare. Mi sembra giusto.

What I love most about this book are Tesla’s recollections from his childhood and the interesting moments of his life that are not found in other books about him. In many ways Tesla was amazingly unique. For example, he talks about flashes of light and visions he had beginning in childhood similar to hallucinations that he could barely distinguish from reality.

These visions caused him great anguish, though in time he learned to use them like something akin to a virtual workshop, his greatest asset as an inventor. He also discusses the superhuman senses he experienced as a young man, like being able to hear a watch ticking from several rooms away, and how these afflictions also were eventually turned into assets. Many readers will scoff at some of his recollections and Tesla admits that, especially the time he split a jumping fish in half with a rock, but I take him at his word because his inventions were just as unbelievable if not more so, and they were obviously very real.

I also love the subtle humor in his words. Tesla was a master at languages and was as thoughtful as one can be. He had an old-world way of explaining things that is very enjoyable such as this example about boys fishing for frogs: "When my comrades, who in spite of their fine outfit had caught nothing, came to me they were green with envy. For a long time I kept my secret and enjoyed the monopoly but finally yielded to the spirit of Christmas. Every boy could then do the same and the following summer brought disaster to the frogs."

Tesla brushes upon his inventions mostly with memories of how they came to be and brief descriptions of how they work or would influence humankind. The book is a very quick read, therefore not enough to go into much detail for each invention. Here’s what he says about the Wardenclyffe Tower shortly after its destruction: "The tower was destroyed two years ago but my projects are being developed and another one, improved in some features, will be constructed." (Unfortunately that prediction did not come to pass, or at least not yet.)

The other thing that stays with me about Tesla was how spiritually advanced he was. There are traces throughout his writings and quotes that carry profound truth; he’s a combination of geeky scientist and hippie preacher all it one. Here’s an example: "Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment and merging of races, and we are still far from this blissful realization."

While I’m in awe of Tesla and the things he did, I’m not 100% in agreement with him, particularly on the concept of free will and humans acting as automata. Perhaps I don’t completely understand his points on that, but it’s worth noting. In addition, I admire Tesla for his optimism that war could become obsolete if all humans had access to weapons and machinery of greater destructive ability, but I feel strongly that we as a species are still many decades from behaving in a way that takes the highest good for all into account.

Still, Tesla is my hero. I cannot think of any individual who had more influence on the world yet was stifled along the way in almost every regard. If only he had been given more cooperation, the world would be a much different and much better place.

Nikola Tesla was a peculiar human being, an inventor, an engineer, a mad scientist, and most of all a visionary. The early 20th century was not ready for his genius.

His biggest inventions (The Tesla Transformer, The Magnifying Transmitter, The Terrestrial Stationary Waves, The Tesla Wireless System) were the basis of many huge phenomena we're familiar with like the Internet, AC current, Wi-Fi and GPS. He knew his works were way ahead of his time yet he kept working hard to pursue his visions towards a better life.


He's lead a very strange life and survived many near-death experiences thanks to what he described as flashes of light helping him think his way out of death's claws. The unexplainable flashes of light also interfered with the peculiar way he conducted his experiments. "These luminous phenomena still manifest themselves from time to time, as when a new idea opening up possibilities strikes me, but they are no longer exciting, being of relatively small intensity. When I close my eyes I invariably observe first, a background of very dark and uniform blue, not unlike the sky on a clear but starless night. In a few seconds this field becomes animated with innumerable scintillating flakes of green, arranged in several layers and advancing towards me. Then there appears, to the right, a beautiful pattern of two systems of parallel and closely spaced lines, at right angles to one another, in all sorts of colors with yellow-green and gold predominating." Did Tesla have visions from the future? Because this is exactly what AutoCAD or any other Computer-Aided design software does.

As I started reading this, I expected it to be riddled with technical descriptions of his works, but to my surprise, Tesla talked about his childhood, his family and friends and his adventures. In the beginning he mentioned having an extraordinarily gifted brother who died as a child, which got me thinking what would the world as we know it be like with two living Teslas instead of one.

4,5 yıldız. Ben bu kitabı bayağı sevdim. Sanki Nikola Tesla gerçekten karşıma oturmuş bana hayatını anlatıyor gibi, su akıcılığıyla okudum. Ve bu muazzam adama bir kere daha hayran oldum. Kesinlikle öneriyorum..

Tesla için, zamanında değeri bilinmemiş bir dahi lafını duyarız, gerçekten de öyleymiş.

Yaptığı her şeyi bilinçli bir şekilde, düşünerek, çokça düşünerek, sürekli hayal ederek yapmış. Bir anda Tesla oluvermemiş, küçüklüğünden itibaren yaptıklarıyla bu adı kazanmış. Çorba içtiği kasenin, yemek yediği tabağın hacmini hesaplamadan yediğinden tat alamadığını, sabah üçten gece on bire kadar ders çalıştığını, öğretmenlerinin ailesine gönderdiği mektuplarda "eğer okuldan alınmazsa çok ders çalışmaktan öleceğini"yazdığını, bir düzine dil bildiğini, 1898 yılında kendi haline bırakıldığında kendi hareketlerine karar verme dahil birçok işlem yapabilen otomobil fikrini ortaya attığını ve daha fazlasını bu kitaptan öğrenme fırsatı buluyoruz.

Kitabın ortalarından itibaren kısmen teknik bilgilere yer verilse de oldukça anlaşılır bir dil kullanılmış, bu açıdan kitabı okuma konusunda çekinmeye gerek olmadığını düşünüyorum.

Cartea contine multe informatii interesante despre viata, personalitatea si inventiile lui Tesla.
Cuvantul inainte din carte este fix degeaba: nu face decat sa repete ceea este mai apoi prezentat ca fragmente din autobiografia inventatorului. Nu am inteles deloc aceasta decizie a editorului.

Quizás no estoy hecha para autobiografías porque encontré que era demasiado autoreferente

Such a great man...

One of most important I learned was he always tried to be himself, he found his primal inclinations/natural inclinations (as Robert Greene calls it in Mastery) early in his life by trying things, by reading a lot (he was really inspired by contemporary inventors and people working in engineering). We ought to read lot in any age and read widely because it opens up so many possibilities, a lot of people get stuck in certain profession or professional level and stay there forever because they never get to know who they are as person, what they are drawn to...

Dành buổi chiều để “trò chuyện” với Tesla, một nhà khoa học điên rồ khiến người ta phải sửng sốt.

100 năm trước, xứ ta còn chưa dứt khỏi chế độ phong kiến trong khi xứ người đã có tạp chí khoa học với những nhà khoa học có tầm nhìn trăm năm như thế này.

Mình dốt lý nên những đoạn lý thuyết vê điện và máy móc của ông khá là khó hiểu nhưng về tổng thể thì đây quả là cuốn hồi ký tuyệt vời của một bộ óc vĩ đại và ngông cuồng!

As explained elsewhere, reviewing autobiographies, is different from reviewing the individuals themselves (read my review of Ford's autobiography). For instance, Henry Ford, the man deserved contempt (for the treatment of his son), but the autobiography was excellent.

Starting with the autobiography, there are several paragraphs of advice and wisdom for both the individual as well as society. For the society, his advice on animal welfare, methods to ensure peace, poverty, food and energy scarcity were insightful. His views on methods to ensure peace were surprisingly pragmatic for a scientist, unlike Einstein. His views on women were inconsistent. On one hand, he claims that he never got married because, women are too good for men, and for him, and in his view he can never match up to them in moral progress, but on the other hand, he was against women increasing adopting a larger role in career, and professions. His views on scientific progress, are not something I can critique given my limited knowledge in the subject. I skimmed through the latter portions of the book, which dealt with the specifics of his experiments, and predictions. He was prescient no doubt, given the fact that he predicted solar power, use of aluminium, wind power and even artificial intelligence. He belonged to a very limited breed of scientists, who championed rationalism over empiricism, that too in the 20th century, when empiricism had clearly won.

The advice on personal self improvement (which is why I generally read autobiographies), is limited but useful. Vegetarianism, abstinence, hard work, will power, complete devotion to work, and limited appetite is what he preached and practised. Of course apply the other parts of his life, with caution - such as habit of sleeping merely for 3-4 hours a day. Thankfully I have made notes of the points that appeared to be useful for me.

I have rated the autobiography 4 stars, because the portions getting into the intricacies of his scientific experiments go over my ahead, especially since the editor for some reason, omitted the illustrations. Morever, the autobiography is not detailed or comprehensive, with a large portion of the book being simply his articles on other several issues. In other words the book is his autobiography and some of his articles compiled together.

Moving on to Tesla the man and not the autob, there were defects in his character - his inability to commercialize and take wise financial decisions, which resulted in inadequate funds for him, and his experiments. Biographical accounts indiciate that this was not attributable to Edison and others, but to Tesla's own imprudence. One could say, that for some people money doesnt matter,and that Tesla merely cared for his passion - scientific progress. But that misses the point, the limited funds adversely affected his experiments, and progress. Had he had funds, he could have achieved much more. In fact to get funds, he would need to exaggerate and portray the future of crazy inventions to capture the imagination of the investors, financiers and so on. Financial prudence is also important in addition to scientific talent, and that was an area, in which Edison was significantly better that Tesla. That said, Tesla's habit/tendency to focus his efforts on long shot scientific projects which did not merely represent incremental improvements, but drastic revolutionary progress was inspirational. No doubt, given the very nature of the projects, he could never perfect/complete them, and therefore could never commercialize them, but he did make some progress in them, which created the platform for the future. I would conclude on that point, with a quote from Tesla, himself:

"The scientific man does not aim at
an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will
be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter—for the
future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come,
and point the way"


Tesla, would be someone to learn specific qualities from, but not someone to model yourself on. Of course one could say that everyone is imperfect, and even people like Bill Gates, Marcus Aurelius, T Roosevelt, Darwin, Chuck Feeney, and others who I admire, and somewhat model myself on are flawed. But that misses the point. Of course, imperfection is inherent, and widespread, but while Marcus, Bill Gates, Roosevelt and so on could be understood to be relatively weak in some areas (say 6/10), when it comes to Tesla, his character defects in some areas were extreme (say 1/10).

I would say that the world needs more Teslas, but no individual would want the life of Tesla.

Một cuốn tự truyện rất ngắn, kha khá nỗi niềm ẩn dưới tầng ngôn ngữ hài hước. Không nhiều thông tin về sự nghiệp phát minh của Tesla như mình kì vọng, nhưng sách cũng cung cấp được vài thông tin thú vị về bối cảnh xã hội và đặc biệt là con người- tư tưởng của Tesla.

Giống như tựa đề, truyện là hồi ký do chính Tesla, tập trung kể về những trải nghiệm kỳ lạ của tâm trí ông - khả năng nghe, ghi nhớ và đặc biệt là khả năng tưởng tưởng siêu thực - xây lắp và chạy thử nghiệm các mô hình máy móc bằng chính bộ não của mình. Những trải nghiệm kỳ lạ này khiến ông vô cùng mệt mỏi và nhạy cảm, nhưng cũng chính nó khiến ông có năng lực sáng chế phát minh vượt trội.

Đọc lời tự sự của ông mới thấy ông truyền cảm hứng cho Elon Musk - một người khổng lồ thời hiện đại như thế nào. Mình có thể thấy ở Elon Musk bóng dáng của Tesla - cuồng nhiệt với công việc, lao động trí óc không biết mệt mỏi và những ý tưởng kì vĩ về thay đổi cách mà thế giới vận hành, để thế giới trở nên gần nhau hơn, cởi mở hơn và bớt đáng buồn hơn.


Không rõ cuốn hồi ký này là ông viết trong bao lâu. Nhưng mình thấy có sự biến chuyển về giọng văn rõ ràng. Khi đọc vài trang đầu, mình đã nghĩ "Giọng kể có vẻ hơi nổ, đúng là kiểu thiên tài bác học". Càng đọc về sau mình càng thấy giọng văn đã khiêm tốn hơn, nhiều trăn trở hơn và cả trào phúng hơn nữa. Nhiều đoạn đọc cũng tự vui vì thấy mình có vài nét giống thiên tài - ham mê đọc (và có ảm ảnh không được bỏ dở cuốn sách), thích "xây dựng mô hình" ở trong đầu, và sau khi nhận lương thì "29 ngày cuối cùng của tháng là khó khăn nhất" :)

Thực ra sách không mô tả rõ về về quá trình sáng tạo, làm việc và cuộc chiến ánh sáng thế kỷ giữa ông và Edison, nhưng qua những dòng tự sự, mình có thể thấy ông có tầm nhìn. Ông đi trước thời đại cả thế kỉ về thông tin liên lạc và tự động hóa, điều khiển từ xa:

Mình rất thích phát biểu về mục tiêu của sáng chế của ông- để con người kết nối, thấu hiểu nhau hơn và hạnh phúc hơn, thay vì để gây chiến và chèn ép lẫn nhau nhau như hiện tại:


Ông còn phát biểu đúng về vị thế của nước Mỹ và những rắc rối mà nó sẽ gặp phải khi sa lầy vào các liên minh và bành trướng quyền lực:


Sách có một số hình ảnh chụp thật các phát minh và bút tích của Tesla, tuy nhiên muốn hiểu hiết về thiết kế của ông, thì người đọc phải tự google nhiều hơn :)

Life is a rhythm that must be comprehended. I feel the rhythm and direct on it and pamper in it. It was very grateful and gave me the knowledge I have. Everything that lives is related to a deep and wonderful relationship: man and the stars, amoebas’ and the sun, the heart and the circulation of an infinite number of worlds. These ties are unbreakable, but they can be tame and to propitiate and begin to create new and different relationships in the world, and that does not violate the old. Knowledge comes from space; our vision is its most perfect set. We have two eyes: the earthly and spiritual. It is recommended that it become one eye. Universe is alive in all its manifestations, like a thinking animal. Stone is a thinking and sentient being, such as plant, beast and a man. A star that shines asked to look at, and if we are not a sizeable self-absorbed we would understand its language and message. His breathing, his eyes and ears of the man must comply with breathing, eyes and ears of the Universe.
when i read this words it seems to me like I read Buddhist texts, words or Taoist Parazulzusa ! actually , Nikola Tesla was a happy man…
and actually i liked yout Extraordinary Personality mr Tesla .