Empires of Light
Jill Jonnes
6 people recommended it in 4 threads, 2009–2025.
What people on Hacker News said
Tesla, Westinghouse, Edison & Morgan. A fascinating bit of history about the people & events that delivered electricity to the world.
An extremely detailed and engaging book on how electricity was brought to the United States.
Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes does a great job covering the rivalry between Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse over electrifying the world.
I liked how it broke down the technical and business challenges and showed the impact on everyday life and industry.
The impression that I got from Empires of Light is that Tesla's "research" needed a lot of "design" by Westinghouse's engineers before they could be turned into practical, working designs.
Where it comes up
- Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things 2025 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: Favorite true story tech book? 2009 · 2 recommendations
- Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time? 2018 · 1 recommendation
- Ask HN: Books you read in 2016? 2016 · 1 recommendation