DescriptionEdison was a prolific inventor. Among his hundreds of patents is the gramophone, the electric light bulb, the telephone, the kinematograph, and the electricity generator. Of all the people who have shaped our modern world it is Edison who had more impact than anyone else. In his 84 years of life, Edison rose from unschooled rustic to the most celebrated inventor of all time; the man who, for a price, would invent anything for anyone, and would lose the money just as easily on fruitless investigation; the man who, for most of his life, worked for 20 hours a day, often for days on end, without sleep, until his work was perfected.
DescriptionAmong other things, Franklin was a printer, philosopher, inventor, statesman, and not least, a writer. Franklin's autobiography captures the essence of his spirit. In it, we can see him as a product of the 18th century enlightenment, a type of Yankee statesman who could use the language of Addison, Steele, Swift, and Defoe. In his autobiography, Franklin asks himself, "Who am I, how did I come to be, and why am I a human being as I am?" And he answers with the honesty, wit, and charm that have made this possibly the most famous of all autobiographies.
DescriptionThe Lightning Keeper is a sweeping, epic novel of ambition, love, and enterprise in America. It is the story of an unlikely Romeo and Juliet romance at the dawn of the electric age, with the nation balancing on the brink of world war and a scientif…
DescriptionThere have been numerous biographies of Benjamin Franklin, including his own notorious autobiography. This is the most charming and captivating account of all. Every chapter is a bewitching gem, and Franklin lives and breathes on every page. This is the last book in Catherine Drinker Bowen's brilliant career. With this, she did not intend to write a full narrative biography. Instead she proposed to write "only what interested me about this most consistently entertaining biographical subject". Thus the book focuses on specific scenes in Franklin's colorful life, including his youthful discoveries with electricity, activity in the Albany Congress of 1754, nine years in London and, of course, his part in America's revolutionary plans.
DescriptionFor a century Bram Stoker's Dracula has reigned supreme as the undisputed masterpiece of horror writing. We have all grown up under the shadow of the elegant Count, at once an attractive, brutal and erotic creature of the night. Bram Stoker's 18…
DescriptionAn ingenious Yankee mechanic, knocked unconscious in a fight, awakens to find himself in Camelot in 528 A.D. Imprisoned by Sir Kay the Seneschal and exhibited before the knights of the Round Table, he is condemned to death but saves himself by posing as a Merlin-like magician, correctly predicting an eclipse, and becoming a minister to King Arthur. He increases his power by applying 19th century knowledge of gunpowder, electricity, and industrial methods. However, when he attempts to better the condition of the peasantry, he meets opposition from the church, the knights, Merlin, and the sorceress Morgan le Fay.
