ACDC, Tom McNichol
ACDC, Tom McNichol
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AC/DC
The Savage Tale of the First Standards War

Author: Tom McNichol

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 6 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2008

Categories: Nonfiction, Science

Synopsis

Long before there was VHS versus Betamax, Windows versus Macintosh, or BluRay versus HDDVD, the first and nastiest standards war was fought over how electricity would be transmitted around the world: alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). 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. AC/DC tells the littleknown story of how Thomas Edison bet wrong in that war, eventually losing control over the operating system for his future inventionsnot to mention the company he founded, which would later become General Electric. Todays Digital Age wizards can take lessons from Edisons fierce battle: control an inventions technical standard and you control the market.

About Tom McNichol

Tom McNichol is a contributing editor to Wired magazine, a highly regarded writer on technology and business, and a regular contributor to the New York Times and Washington Post. He has recorded segments for the public radio shows Marketplace and All Things Considered.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mara

Wanna know what Archer was talking about when he said he wanted to "Edison this elephant"? Read on. Electricity and magnetism have always held a certain “wow” factor. Science often inspires a state of awe and wonder, but (to date) the likes of thermodynamics and stoichiometry have yet to inspire a B......more

Goodreads review by Jesselyn

A very shallow look at the AC/DC standards war, which is far too kind to Edison and largely ignores his plagirism of the inventions of others......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer

"As a child I never imagined all the real monsters in the world would be humans." -Mobeen Hakeem From this conflict emerged the foundation of electrical power we have today, but at what cost? It's fascinating to see how the predictions this man made in 2006 on DVD formats aged poorly, considering we h......more

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