The blackout of 2003 illuminated just how dependent America is on electricity. It was not just that some 50 million people in eight states and Ontario were cut off from their televisions, microwaves, ATMs, and email. Without the electrical juice to keep their sockets alive, factory managers were forced to close production lines, city managers shut down water deliveries, grocery store clerks watched their frozen inventory slowly melt away. Economists estimated that the blackout cost Americans $5 billion even as energy analysts were predicting that a similar blackout could happen again. The catastrophe forced us to marvel at the unusual ability of sub-microscopic particles to move like waves inside a wire and cause bulbs to glow. It highlighted the complex requirements for managing the massive generators, transformers, transmission lines, and switch boxes needed to tap and deliver flowing electrons. It encouraged us to recognize the profound impact of electricity on all aspects of commerce and culture.
Such events as the blackout, the Enron debacle, and the California brownouts also reveal the cracks in a 100-year-old industry structure that have been building ever since Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and their contemporaries first managed to harness electricity and make it available to the masses, and tycoons, such as Sam Insull and George Norris, began to concentrate financial control and political influence. From Edison to Enron traces the controversial history of this $210 billion industry―the nation's largest―showcasing the key individuals, technological innovations, corporate machinations, and political battles that have been waged over its domination. Munson maintains that today's technological and regulatory infrastructure, as a function of its history, is a relic that has long outlived its usefulness; he points out that two-thirds of the fuel burned to generate electricity is lost, that Americans pay roughly $100 billion too much each year for heat and power, and that environmentally unfriendly generators are the nation's largest polluters. Meanwhile, innovations in technology and business models are being blocked by entrenched monopolies. Ultimately, Munson argues that current policies and practices, including those favored by the Bush Administration, are preventing entrepreneurs from producing more efficient, healthy, and sustainable power supplies. Moreover, he presents an agenda for business and policy reforms that will stimulate economic development in the United States and around the world.

From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity

Business & Money

MUNSON, RICHARD

Biography & History

Praeger

Reference

"[A] penetrating biography…Munson makes vivid the genius’s eventful life." ―Barbara Kiser, Nature
Nikola Tesla invented radio, robots, and remote control. His electric induction motors run our appliances and factories. In the early 1900s, he designed plans for cell phones, the Internet, death-ray weapons, and interstellar communication. His ideas have lived on to shape the modern economy, yet he has been largely overlooked by history. In Tesla, Richard Munson presents a comprehensive portrait of this farsighted and underappreciated mastermind. Drawing on letters, technological notebooks, and other primary sources, Munson pieces together the magnificently bizarre personal life and mental habits of the enigmatic inventor whose most famous inventions were the product of a mind fueled by both the humanities and sciences―Tesla conceived the induction motor while walking through a park and reciting Goethe’s Faust. Clear, authoritative, and highly readable, Tesla takes into account all the phases of Tesla’s remarkable life and career. 8 pages of illustrations

Tesla: Inventor of the Modern

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

W.W.Norton&Company

Tesla’s inventions transformed our world, and his visions have continued to inspire great minds for generations.
Nikola Tesla invented the radio, robots, and remote control. His electric induction motors run our appliances and factories, yet he has been largely overlooked by history. In Tesla, Richard Munson presents a comprehensive portrait of this farsighted and underappreciated mastermind.
When his first breakthrough―alternating current, the basis of the electric grid―pitted him against Thomas Edison’s direct-current empire, Tesla’s superior technology prevailed. Unfortunately, he had little business sense and could not capitalize on this success. His most advanced ideas went unrecognized for decades: forty years in the case of the radio patent, longer still for his ideas on laser beam technology. Although penniless during his later years, he never stopped imagining. In the early 1900s, he designed plans for cell phones, the Internet, death-ray weapons, and interstellar communications. His ideas have lived on to shape the modern economy.
Who was this genius? Drawing on letters, technical notebooks, and other primary sources, Munson pieces together the magnificently bizarre personal life and mental habits of the enigmatic inventor. Born during a lightning storm at midnight, Tesla died alone in a New York City hotel. He was an acute germaphobe who never shook hands and required nine napkins when he sat down to dinner. Strikingly handsome and impeccably dressed, he spoke eight languages and could recite entire books from memory. Yet Tesla’s most famous inventions were not the product of fastidiousness or linear thought but of a mind fueled by both the humanities and sciences: he conceived the induction motor while walking through a park and reciting Goethe’s Faust.
Tesla worked tirelessly to offer electric power to the world, to introduce automatons that would reduce life’s drudgery, and to develop machines that might one day abolish war. His story is a reminder that technology can transcend the marketplace and that profit is not the only motivation for invention. This clear, authoritative, and highly readable biography takes account of all phases of Tesla’s remarkable life. 8 pages of illustrations

Professionals & Academics

Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds, and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic achievements than his scientific creativity. In Ingenious, Richard Munson recovers this vital part of Franklin's story, reveals his modern relevance, and offers a compelling portrait of a shrewd experimenter, clever innovator, and visionary physicist whose fame opened doors to negotiate French support and funding for American independence. Munson's riveting narrative explores how science underpins Franklin's entire story--from tradesman to inventor to nation-founder.

Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist

In this first balanced portrait of this little-understood, greatly admired man, the author recounts Cousteau's life as a seaman and adventurer and reveals the off-camera techniques behind his famous documentaries

Cousteau: The Captain and His World

Science & Math

William Morrow & Co.

A behind-the-scenes look at the powerful House Appropriations Committee shows how this secretive and little-known body of thirteen members of congress controls hundreds of billions of tax dollars and makes decisions affecting all Americans.

The Cardinals of Capitol Hill: The Men and Women Who Control Government Spending

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

Grove Pr

Traces the history of the power industry, discusses the problems that now confront electric utilities across the U.S., and explains what changes will have to be made

The Power Makers: The Inside Story of America's Biggest Business...and Its Struggle to Control Tomorrow's Electricity

Rodale Pr

Education Incorporated identifies ways education and business can work together to build a strong economy. While recognizing that schools and companies have different roles to play in the public arena, the focus is on what happens when their interests overlap. Describing formal and informal programs already underway, the book suggests specific actions to use existing resources and talents cooperatively. It also shows what government can do to promote collaborations between these sectors. Specific papers discuss ways in which education can find new uses for its buildings and resources, develop and expand training services to develop workforce potential, make use of research capacity and faculty expertise for business applications, and create flexible funding strategies to support their services to business and industry.

Education Incorporated: School-Business Cooperation for Economic Growth

Economics

Energy Switch Alternatives to Nuclear Power

Union of Concerned Scientists

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MUNSON, RICHARD. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by MUNSON, RICHARD

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MUNSON, RICHARD. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity

From Edison to Enron: The Business of Power and What It Means for the Future of Electricity

Tesla: Inventor of the Modern

Tesla: Inventor of the Modern

Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist

Cousteau: The Captain and His World

The Cardinals of Capitol Hill: The Men and Women Who Control Government Spending

The Power Makers: The Inside Story of America's Biggest Business...and Its Struggle to Control Tomorrow's Electricity

Education Incorporated: School-Business Cooperation for Economic Growth

Energy Switch Alternatives to Nuclear Power