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At the tender age of 14 and with very little previous knowledge of electronics, Philo T. Farnsworth brought together the building blocks for the television medium, which turned 75 on September 7. Schatzkin, a Farnsworth scholar, focuses on the boy genius's life story, showing us who and what influenced him. Drawing on 20 years of research (including interviews with Farnsworth's family and confidants), he details the funding of various television experiments, patent protection efforts, and technological developments. This joins a number of other recent biographies on Farnsworth, most notably Evan Schwartz's The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius, Deceit, and the Birth of Television, which focuses on his battle with David Sarnoff over the organization of television, and Donald Godfrey's more general Philo T. Farnsworth: The Father of Television. On its own, Schatzkin's book is a great biography of a gifted inventor and of value to anyone seeking an accessible tour of Farnsworth's life and challenges. Recommended, particularly for academic libraries with broadcasting and media collections. - David M. Lisa, Wayne P.L., NJ
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Philo T. Farnsworth had one of his first insights into electronic television's design while watching a horse-drawn mower on a farm. It is remarkable enough that a boy should have such an inspiration, let alone that so primitive a technology would influence so advanced an instrument. But such insights occurred regularly throughout his life to a man not only obsessed with transmitting pictures over wireless airwaves but also one possessing a mind able to absorb and resolve every sort of theoretical and technical issue. Schatzkin, although clearly in awe of his subject, finds room to document some of Farnsworth's less amiable characteristics, such as his bouts of drinking and depression, his neglect of wife and family, and his persistent rivalry with RCA's Samoff, who was equally committed to developing television. Schatzkin keeps the pace moving quickly and doesn't let himself get bogged down in the scientific details. The result is a readable, if not particularly analytical, biography of the man whose invention truly revolutionized the world. Mark Knoblauch