ePub AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War download

by Tom McNichol

Author:

Tom McNichol

ISBN13:

978-0787982676

ISBN:

0787982679

Language:

English

Publisher:

Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (August 12, 2013)

Category:

Business

Subcategory:

Industries

ePub file:

1497 kb

Fb2 file:

1290 kb

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Rating:

4.6

Votes:

606

Tom McNichol Industries English

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Audible book Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible book with .

Audible book Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible book with Whispersync for Voice. Though a battle over electrical standards sounds dry, this tale is anything but. McNichol's solid if brief survey of this relatively unknown moment in the history of technology ranges from macabre electrocutions of hapless animals (and eventually prison inmates) as demonstrations of the "Death Current" to the gleaming "electrical wonderland" of the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago.

AC/DC tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edison wrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of alternating . The savagery of this electrical battle can hardly be imagined today

AC/DC tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edison wrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of alternating current and direct current. The savagery of this electrical battle can hardly be imagined today. The showdown between AC and DC began as a rather straightforward conflict between technical standards, a battle of competing methods to deliver essentially the same product, electricity. In the AC/DC battle, the worst aspects of human nature somehow got caught up in the wires; a silent, deadly flow of arrogance,.

The savage showdown between AC and DC changed the lives of billions of people, shaped the modern .

The savage showdown between AC and DC changed the lives of billions of people, shaped the modern technological age, and set the stage for all standards wars to follow. Today’s Digital Age wizards can take lessons from Edison’s fierce battle: control an invention’s technical standard and you control the. market.

Аудиокнига "AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War", Tom McNichol. Читает Malcolm Hillgartner. Мгновенный доступ к вашим любимым книгам без обязательной ежемесячной платы. Слушайте книги через Интернет и в офлайн-режиме на устройствах Android, iOS, Chromecast, а также с помощью Google Ассистента. Скачайте Google Play Аудиокниги сегодня!

The AC/DC showdown - which came to be known as the war of the .

The AC/DC showdown - which came to be known as the war of the currents - began as a rather straightforward conflict between technical standards, a battle of competing methods to deliver essentially the same product, electricity. As a result, the AC/DC war serves as a cautionary tale for the Information Age, which produces ever more arcane disputes over technical standards.

AC/DC tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edison wrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of. .

AC/DC tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edison wrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of alternating current and direct current.

What began as an ordinary skirmish between competing technical standards had deteriorated into a grotesque campaign of lies and fear mongering. Listen on Apple Podcasts. 5 min. More Episodes. More by Wellesley College.

V, 198 pages ; 24 cm. Presents a survey of the battle between Thomas Edison and European inventor Nikola Tesla over whether alternating or direct current would be the standard for bringing electricity to millions of people. Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-189) and index. Negative and positive - First sparks - Lightning in a bottle - Enter the wizard - Let there be light - Electrifying the Big Apple - Tesla - The animal experiments - Old Sparky - Pulse of the world - Killing an elephant - Twilight by battery power - DC's

AC/DC tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edisonwrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of alternatingcurrent and direct current. The savagery of this electrical battlecan hardly be imagined today. The showdown between AC and DC beganas a rather straightforward conflict between technical standards, abattle of competing methods to deliver essentially the sameproduct, electricity. But the skirmish soon metastasized intosomething bigger and darker. In the AC/DC battle, the worst aspectsof human nature somehow got caught up in the wires; a silent,deadly flow of arrogance, vanity, and cruelty. Following the pathof least resistance, the war of currents soon settled around thatmost primal of human emotions: fear. AC/DC serves as anobject lesson in bad business strategy and poor decision making.Edison's inability to see his mistake was a key factor in his lossof control over the ?operating system? for his futureinventions?not to mention the company he founded, General Electric.

Faegal

I have not yet finished reading this, but permit me to jot some thoughts as I progress.

I had this book in my wishlist for a long time now. With the gift of my Kindle Fire, I downloaded this as my inaugural Kindle book.

The pre-history of electricity is long and torturous. I don't think it adds much to the overall discussion of the AC/DC "war".

Then I encountered a jagged note, that smacks of poor proof-reading. Towards the end of chapter 4, when Edison had completed the invention of his electric lamp, we read the following: "In the week following Christmas 1889, hundreds of visitors made a pilgrimage to Menlo Park [New Jersey] to see the marvel for themselves."

Then turn the page to Chapter 5 (titled: Electrifying the Big Apple)and read this: "In February 1881, Edison moved from Menlo Park to New York City to fulfill his next mission: bringing electric power to to the Big Apple."

I guess since the author was writing about electricity, he did not feel the need to mention that Edison also invented time travel.

Anyway, I am at about chapter 5 of the book and only Chapter 4 started making it interesting. No mention about the standards dispute though.

Jark

A short book, but with many interesting anecdotes about Edison and Tesla. I give a presentation on the Battle of the Currents, and as I read books about it, I place small sticky notes on the pages that contain good facts. By the time I was done, there were many such sticky notes in the book. There is only one illustration, interestingly called "Fig. 4". The author is one of the experts interviewed in the recent National Geographic TV series on American Geniuses.

Phallozs Dwarfs

McNichols does an excellent job from explaining in clear terms about electricity, to the relevant background of the two main experimenters and producers -- exponents of either Alternating AC or Direct DC current, the competitors Edison and Westinghouse -- and finally to the modern equivalent of their wars. McNichol introduces the whole subject with his own personal dangerous episodes with both currents. Then the book has a fascinating section explaining the element, just like recent books on ice and salt. The one very difficult and long part to read is the animal experiments done electrocuting dogs and horses, to prove falsely that AC was more dangerous than DC. But the characters of Edison, whose stubbornness doomed him with only DC, and the savvy of Westinghouse to adopt AC, are vivid. Intriguing to learn that Telluride, Colorado was one of the first places where they experimented with the feasibility of AC in the mountains. And it is interesting to see the modern equivalent wars with formats for taping, starting with the early Beta vs. VHS.

Jode

This book was flat out awesome. I decided to learn about photovoltaic cells and learned they work on direct current, which led to the revelation of the Edison's use of direct current and the earliest "standards war". This led to learning of the battle between two giants of the time, Edison and Westinghouse. AC/DC also caught my eye, being a product of the eighties. And if one knows AC/DC, one should also know of the band Tesla. Maybe they weren't just carefree rock stars? Their reference to electricity and the beginnings of are an education to all. This ties into Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla, the turn of the century front-runners in electrifying the new world. And to find that Edison didn't invent the light bulb? This book was awesome! Read it. Thanks Mr. McNichol for the pleasure.

Zugar

The book was well written and gave some good specifics about Tesla and Edison I felt that it lacked a bit in expressing how bitter the rivalry was between the two.

Malaunitly

My husband loved this book. We had visited the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison homes in Fort Myers, FL, and he developed a great interest in this old feud over which electrical current should be the one of choice in that era.

Vojar

This book is an amazing bit of history

Perhaps the only flaw of this book is that it is too short. I found it so interesting that I was a bit disappointed that it was over so soon. The author's style is quite easy to read, he relates the facts with a really good narrative.
Electrical engineers may find the technical details too simple or may frown at the term "electric pressure" so often used by the author but nevertheless is a book anyone can read and enjoy.
Not being a born English speaker I read it in an unusually short time therefore I think this book would be great for advanced readers whose native language is not English.
The description of experiments with animals is something you may skip, those were cruel experiments and almost made me to put the book down but I understand that that was part of the vicious war between DC and AC and had to be accounted for.

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