[.ca] The Boy Who Invented Television: A Story of Inspiration, ... (ISBN 0976200007)

much more interesting than anything actually on TV!:
This is a book that you won't be able to put down. It's one of those true stories that is much more interesting than anything you could make up! This book is a must for creative types, the self-employed, television fans, guys who hang out in Radio Shack, and anybody who loves to hear about how the underdog can come back and win it all! Everybody who owns a TV should read this book because we'd all have a much greater appreciation for it!!

Who Invented the Remote Control?:
We know the inventor of electric lighting, and we know who turned mass production assembly lines into affordable automobiles. Nicola Tesla invented the alternating current motors we use today, invented radio, invented fluorescent lighting, discovered X-rays, and yet failed to cash in or get credit, and wound up dying at an advanced age in a transient hotel. This book is the bio of an Philo T. Farnsworth, a young man who walked away from the obscurity of his rural agricultural background into a Teslian style obscurity, after a lifetime of brilliant work. This American inventor eventually turned to inertial containment as the solution to controlled fusion for electrical power generation. The account in this book of his fusion work is interesting, and includes a tantalizing incident in which fusion may have been achieved, briefly. Much more important than who invented the intelligence vacuum (TV) vs. who got the credit for it is the discussion of Farnsworth's breakthroughs in fusion and his being frozen out by the US government et al. The current laser inertial containment research (Sandia Labs' Z-Machine dumps 290 trillion watts of X-rays onto a sample target as of four years ago) owes a debt to Farnsworth. While I personally doubt that fusion will ever reach breakeven regardless of the money poured into it, should it bear fruit Farnsworth will probably get flipped out of the picture.

Interesting biography:
I really enjoyed this engaging biography of Philo T. Farnsworth. The science of the book was mostly understandable to a layperson, and I found myself rooting for Farnsworth all the way. I could really sympathize with his triumphs and his losses, and I was so saddened and angry at the way he was treated toward the end of his life. It seems a real shame that he has not gotten the recognition he deserves, and I'm glad this book is out to give him the publicity due him.

For television buffs who want to learn how it all began:
The Boy Who Invented Television is the astonishing biography of Philo T. Farnsworth, who at age 14 dreamed of trapping and transmitting light, and while plowing on his father's farm looked at the parallel rows he had been making and conceived of a practical and effective way to wirelessly beam information from one point to another which concept resulted in his 1930 fundamental patent for modern television. Farnsworth's struggle against challenges from the Radio Corporation from America, his fight to protect his vision from reticent investors, and his work that would forever change the world and modern communications, is presented in a highly readable narrative enhanced with black-and-white photographs. The Boy Who Invented Television is very highly recommended reading -- especially for television buffs who want to learn how it all really began!

A broad perspective on Philo T. Farnsworth:
I enjoyed the riveting story. I also got the sense, with all the references and footnotes, that this was a carefully researched book. Being an electrical engineer myself, I appreciated that there was enough technical information without loosing the understanding of lay readers. I found no technical blunders, that often come in biographies of technical wizards. In this book, it becames clear that there are technological breakthroughs that can only come from a great mind, and not from the "inevitable" march of technology.