bargainsleuth's review
3.0
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After reading the reviews and finding out that Morris, whom I'm no fan of after his horrible biography of Ronald Reagan, decided with his editor to write the story of Edison's life backwards, I wasn't sure I wanted to read it. Then I did what any self-respecting reader who prefers chronological biographies would do: I read it backwards, starting with part 8 and working my way back to the Prologue. It was an interesting book when read that way. I think I would have been frustrated had I read it the way it was laid out, because part 1 refers to inventions and patents that come up in part 5 and 6. So the gimmick didn't work for me. I still wonder how Morris won the Pulitzer, because I found his books on Theodore Roosevelt just okay, not spectacular. Same with this book. It was interesting, but not outstanding.
After reading the reviews and finding out that Morris, whom I'm no fan of after his horrible biography of Ronald Reagan, decided with his editor to write the story of Edison's life backwards, I wasn't sure I wanted to read it. Then I did what any self-respecting reader who prefers chronological biographies would do: I read it backwards, starting with part 8 and working my way back to the Prologue. It was an interesting book when read that way. I think I would have been frustrated had I read it the way it was laid out, because part 1 refers to inventions and patents that come up in part 5 and 6. So the gimmick didn't work for me. I still wonder how Morris won the Pulitzer, because I found his books on Theodore Roosevelt just okay, not spectacular. Same with this book. It was interesting, but not outstanding.
princesszinza's review
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley for the free e-book in exchange for a review.
I really enjoyed this book in the beginning - or should I say at the end? This biography is written Benjamin Button's style, starting with Edison's death and then going backwards. I found Edison's micromanagement and interest in the tiniest details of his company fascinating. Who knew that Edison spent so much effort to find a domestic plant to make into rubber?
This book's unique format made it so that I was fully immersed in Edison's later innovations. This made for quick page turning at first, but as I continued reading I became confused in the timelines and ultimately lost interest.
Edmund Morris did a massive amount of research. This biography is perfect for someone who wants to know everything about Edison's business. Unfortunately, I learned enough in the first couple hundred pages and stopped reading. Maybe I'll pick it up later and finish.
I really enjoyed this book in the beginning - or should I say at the end? This biography is written Benjamin Button's style, starting with Edison's death and then going backwards. I found Edison's micromanagement and interest in the tiniest details of his company fascinating. Who knew that Edison spent so much effort to find a domestic plant to make into rubber?
This book's unique format made it so that I was fully immersed in Edison's later innovations. This made for quick page turning at first, but as I continued reading I became confused in the timelines and ultimately lost interest.
Edmund Morris did a massive amount of research. This biography is perfect for someone who wants to know everything about Edison's business. Unfortunately, I learned enough in the first couple hundred pages and stopped reading. Maybe I'll pick it up later and finish.
dcox83's review
4.0
The thing everyone writes about this biography is that Morris wrote it backwards. It starts with his death and each chapter is the previous decade of his life.
I liked this choice the further I got into the book, as it sets up Edison's greatest inventions (phonograph and light bulb) as a climax to the book. So much of his life afterwards was built around these two things, and the book deconstructs all of it as we read further into the book while moving earlier into his life. It creates a tension and excitement when you get to the moments, 3/4 of the way through the biography.
I also enjoyed how this book demystified Edison's scientific process. It was less "A-ha!" moments and more 18 hours days in his lab. It also shows the magic people felt from his inventions. They could hear audio recordings of famous people or loved ones after their deaths. They could easily see in their homes after dark without gas torches or candles. These were huge moments in the world, and Morris does a great job walking us through them.
I liked this choice the further I got into the book, as it sets up Edison's greatest inventions (phonograph and light bulb) as a climax to the book. So much of his life afterwards was built around these two things, and the book deconstructs all of it as we read further into the book while moving earlier into his life. It creates a tension and excitement when you get to the moments, 3/4 of the way through the biography.
I also enjoyed how this book demystified Edison's scientific process. It was less "A-ha!" moments and more 18 hours days in his lab. It also shows the magic people felt from his inventions. They could hear audio recordings of famous people or loved ones after their deaths. They could easily see in their homes after dark without gas torches or candles. These were huge moments in the world, and Morris does a great job walking us through them.
momey's review
1.0
I don't know what possessed the author to invert his narrative but the end result was to make this biography of Edison a complete slog. seriously I don't think I achieved any insight into Edison or his process. Would it have been different if the story of his childhood and youth came first? Maybe but after forcing myself through all those pages I really wasn't in the mood to rethink or reread the earlier pages. I have had some personal experience hanging with 'inventors' and I do know it takes more than having a 'good idea' to engender a technological revolution like Edison's inventions have. Contrasting this book to Walter Isaacson's bio of Steve Job's--the later was so much more insightful about the man and also his creations and vision really. I was disappointed.
dagny23's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Quite detailed and scientific. As a scientist, I really enjoyed it. Edison was incredible, probably on the spectrum, which goes to show the range of intellect. The sequence in which events were told was not always chronological, which sometimes made it harder to follow.
marisbest2's review
2.0
Edison is fascinating and impressive. This biography is a travesty. Its too dense in the wrong places. Its inexplicably written in reverse chronological order making tracing developments and characters impossible. Its unbalanced in its coverage of different events and inventions (did we really need so many pages on rubber?)
Every once in a while a paragraph here or there was brilliant. But overall, cannot recommend.
Edison was one of the first historical figures who's biography I ever read (I think I did a book report on him in first or second grade). But this was just sad to read.
Every once in a while a paragraph here or there was brilliant. But overall, cannot recommend.
Edison was one of the first historical figures who's biography I ever read (I think I did a book report on him in first or second grade). But this was just sad to read.
anniegroover's review
4.0
I love Morris' writing (RIP Edmund!), and this book did not disappoint. I wavered a bit on whether I liked the reverse chronology format, but I ultimately came down on deciding that yes, it was good. Not only is it an interesting way to structure a non-fiction book, but also, I think it served to keep the narrative moving towards the ultimate inventions everyone knows him for (phonographs and lightbulbs) which came relatively early in his career. Moving backwards through the decades dropped interesting breadcrumbs along the way and actually made the end of the book move quicker than the beginning (like, how did his first wife die? What was his dad like?) Morris is such a fantastic writer, and not only knows his subject well, it is also apparent that he knows Edison's work well too. I did like the Teddy Roosevelt book a bit better, because I felt more comfortable in the political world than the business/science world, and TR himself left such a large body of writing, it was more immersive. At times, Edison comes off as a horny asshole. Still fascinating, but less likable.
socraticgadfly's review
2.0
Ye gads, NO!!!
There was a creative new angle for Morris in penning the life of Edison (see end of review) but not the one he actually took.
No, this just doesn’t work.
I’ve read an occasional non-chronological, thematically organized biography. Where it’s not intended to be an introductory biography, and may be somewhat professionally targeted, such as Heiko Oberman’s Luther bio, it can work well.
I have never read a reverse chronological biography, and now, I’ll never try another.
First, this is the same Edmund Morris who invented a fictional character for his Reagan bio and claimed it was because he couldn’t grasp Reagan. That would seem to be a lie, and that idea mainly just a literary conceit as is the reverse chronology here.
Critics slammed Morris for that.
Speaking of? You won’t see any blurbs — none at all — on the back cover here. Yes, I know he died earlier this year. Nonetheless, this isn’t a novel dependent on the author’s name, and even if there were some degree of rush, galley proofs would have been ready by May.
So, either Random House quailed at sending it to Kirkus, NY Review of Books, etc., or else it did and they slammed it.
That also doesn’t look good.
As for the book itself, you could do as one other low-star reviewer suggests and read it in normal chronological order, ie, reverse chapter order.
However, some placement-early chapters may refer forward, or is that backward, to late-placement, but earlier-chronology, chapters.
Second problem, and one that an “artiste” biographer like Morris should never have stepped into, if he is indeed such an “artiste.” Lives don’t divide on precise decadal lines, and certainly not “one decade = one theme.” It looks like he tried to take a thematic approach, a la Oberman to Luther, and straitjacket it inside a chronological format. And that on top of doing the reverse chronology.
The sad thing?
I’d never before read much about Edison’s personal life, other than his hanging out with Ford and Firestone.
I didn’t know he was married twice. Nor that his namesake eldest son from his first marriage was a wastrel. Nor that he, and to some degree all the children of the first marriage, were written off by not only Edison’s second wife, but Edison himself.
It seems like there was potential for a HUGE biography of Edison the person first, inventor second. And Morris blew it. What I have learned about Edison the person is the only reason I didn’t one-star this book.
Maybe somebody will come along and do the bio Morris could and should have done.
There was a creative new angle for Morris in penning the life of Edison (see end of review) but not the one he actually took.
No, this just doesn’t work.
I’ve read an occasional non-chronological, thematically organized biography. Where it’s not intended to be an introductory biography, and may be somewhat professionally targeted, such as Heiko Oberman’s Luther bio, it can work well.
I have never read a reverse chronological biography, and now, I’ll never try another.
First, this is the same Edmund Morris who invented a fictional character for his Reagan bio and claimed it was because he couldn’t grasp Reagan. That would seem to be a lie, and that idea mainly just a literary conceit as is the reverse chronology here.
Critics slammed Morris for that.
Speaking of? You won’t see any blurbs — none at all — on the back cover here. Yes, I know he died earlier this year. Nonetheless, this isn’t a novel dependent on the author’s name, and even if there were some degree of rush, galley proofs would have been ready by May.
So, either Random House quailed at sending it to Kirkus, NY Review of Books, etc., or else it did and they slammed it.
That also doesn’t look good.
As for the book itself, you could do as one other low-star reviewer suggests and read it in normal chronological order, ie, reverse chapter order.
However, some placement-early chapters may refer forward, or is that backward, to late-placement, but earlier-chronology, chapters.
Second problem, and one that an “artiste” biographer like Morris should never have stepped into, if he is indeed such an “artiste.” Lives don’t divide on precise decadal lines, and certainly not “one decade = one theme.” It looks like he tried to take a thematic approach, a la Oberman to Luther, and straitjacket it inside a chronological format. And that on top of doing the reverse chronology.
The sad thing?
I’d never before read much about Edison’s personal life, other than his hanging out with Ford and Firestone.
I didn’t know he was married twice. Nor that his namesake eldest son from his first marriage was a wastrel. Nor that he, and to some degree all the children of the first marriage, were written off by not only Edison’s second wife, but Edison himself.
It seems like there was potential for a HUGE biography of Edison the person first, inventor second. And Morris blew it. What I have learned about Edison the person is the only reason I didn’t one-star this book.
Maybe somebody will come along and do the bio Morris could and should have done.