AC/DC cover art

AC/DC

The Savage Tale of the First Standards War

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AC/DC

By: Tom McNichol
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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About this listen

 Long before there was VHS versus Betamax, Windows versus Macintosh, or Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD, 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 little-known story of how Thomas Edison bet wrong in that war, eventually losing control over the "operating system" for his future inventions - not to mention the company he founded, which would later become General Electric. Today's Digital Age wizards can take lessons from Edison's fierce battle: control an invention's technical standard and you control the market

©2008 Tom McNichol (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc. History History & Philosophy Physics Science War Invention

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Critic reviews

"Though a battle over electrical standards sounds dry, this tale is anything but....[The] book tantalizingly scratches the surface of Edison's ingenuity and force of will, Westinghouse's shrewd business sense, and most of all the sheer eccentricity of Nikola Tesla." ( Publishers Weekly)
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There's a chance you've heard of the story in passing but this book will fill in gaps in a captivating way.

Informative and fascinating!

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This was an interesting and informative story that I wouldn't have known. Well worth a listen.

Interesting story

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Nicely paced history of how the electrical power systems came about in the US, concentrating on the Edison/Westinghouse bunfight over DC/AC. Makes some references to Europe’s contribution but nowhere near a fair proportion as we’ve come to expect from American publications.

Pretty good.

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