My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla

Every time you switch on a light or plug in an appliance, you are using the genius of Nikola Tesla. The inventor whose work on alternating current helped electrify the modern world tells his own remarkable story in My Inventions, first published as a series of articles in Electrical Experimenter magazine in 1919.

Tesla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, a village in the Austrian Empire in what is now Croatia, the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest. From childhood, he possessed an extraordinary gift: he could picture inventions so vividly in his mind that he could build, test, and refine them entirely in his imagination before ever touching a tool. In these pages he describes his boyhood experiments, his strange visions and flashes of light, his near-fatal illness, and the moment, walking in a Budapest park at sunset, when the idea for the rotating magnetic field and the induction motor came to him in a flash while he recited lines from Goethe's Faust.

He recounts his journey to America in 1884, arriving with little money and a letter of introduction to Thomas Edison, and the work that followed, including his alternating current system, which became the basis of the power grids that light the world today. He writes about his inventions, from motors to the Tesla coil, about his experiments with wireless transmission, and about his bold visions for the future of technology. Throughout, he reveals the habits and discipline of a mind that seemed to work unlike any other.

Tesla's voice is fascinating: confident, visionary, and sometimes mysterious. He offers rare insight into the creative process of one of history's great inventors, and into the obsessive focus that drove him. Long overshadowed after his death in 1943, Tesla has since been rediscovered as an icon of imagination and innovation.

Why read it?

• In his own words. It is a rare firsthand account from one of history's greatest inventors.
• Inside a genius's mind. Tesla explains how he imagined and perfected his inventions.
• The story of electricity. Learn how alternating current came to power the modern world.
• Inspiration for young innovators. It is perfect for students who love science, engineering, and invention.
• Short and fascinating. It is a quick read packed with remarkable stories.

Why the Comfortable Classics edition?

Comfortable Classics was created to help families build a library worth keeping. Each book in the series shares the same handsome design, a black cover with warm wood-grain bands and a parchment panel. Only the title lettering changes, chosen to suit each book's spirit. Together they make a matching collection that looks beautiful on a shelf and invites you to take the next one down.

Classics meant to be kept, studied, and handed down.