Tesla: Wizard at War
The Genius, the Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power
Marc J. Seifer
Citadel Press, New York, 2022, 384 pages
Book Review published on: August 4, 2023
The international bestseller Tesla: Wizard at War: The Genius, the Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power is a formal objective essay with hints of how Nikola Tesla built consensus to create a weapon so powerful that it would discourage war. The book discusses groundbreaking ideas, interactions with historical figures, and the impact of research and inventions on history and current military technology. Author Marc J. Seifer introduces interactions with Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Rosevelt, as well as many of Tesla’s other personal relationships during the First World War and leading up to the Second World War. Seifer displays Tesla’s research, inventions in powerful technology with limitless range, and his ambition to succeed at abolishing war.
The book is a composition of released correspondence and documents with public figures, celebrities, scientists, and friends related to Tesla’s technical innovation during and after the First World War. It details projects interesting to the U.S. government that Tesla hoped would end war as we knew it. Seifer’s decades of research and speaking engagements about Tesla are displayed throughout the book. He discusses the invention of a particle beam weapon and wireless power with limitless range during the time of the First World War.
The book displays many writings describing his ideas and projects, specifically surrounding the search for a particle beam weapon. In his writings he describes alternating currents that will travel farther and power more technology, wireless technology, small, unmanned ships, launch of a giant wireless tower to eliminate the use of fuel, a particle beam weapon, and many more inventions. It includes Roosevelt’s inquiry into research on the newest technology, specifically technology that could give any wartime advantage.
The ideas and inventions discussed in the book were of great interest to many influential individuals. They could benefit many groups of people and influence the advancement of ideas of many nations during a pivotal time in history. The manuscript leads to the belief that many of Tesla’s writings were seized after his death and have only recently been released for public review. These writings were so useful that today we still see government and private party projects expanding on the ideas and works.
Author Marc J. Seifer is an acclaimed authority on Tesla. He has researched, spoken, and published extensively on Tesla. His earlier biography on Tesla, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, published in 1996, has been cited many times and translated into nine languages. Not only has Seifer published, but he has also lectured and starred in a miniseries on Tesla and has appeared in some documentaries and the movie Tower to the People. He published the book Wizard at War to fill gaps in the 1996 book on the life and times of Tesla.
The book discusses Tesla’s ideas, inventions, writings, and pursuit of support for his work. It reviews his relationships and sharing of his ideas and inventions with influential individuals, such as how Tesla was able to encourage influential individuals to work with him and develop and distribute the ideas and inventions, and how he influenced others with his ideas and altered thinking about the course of the war. The book is insightful and helpful in understanding Tesla, his beliefs, and desire to end war.
The book reviews Tesla’s ideas, inventions, and writings. One of the highlights is Tesla’s drive to solve the problem of war and create peace with a weapon so powerful that it would ensure mutually assured destruction. He believed the weapon’s power, if held by many nations, would discourage waging war. The book reviews Tesla’s writings, his communications, and relationships with other public figures, scientists, and friends as he shares his ideas and pursues support for his technology. The manuscript concludes with his final writings, the end of his life, and speculation on what has happened with his technology, ideas, and research. I recommend the book to individuals interested in the newest technology and its development.
Book Review written by: Kathy Kim Strand, MEd, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas