AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards WarISBN: 978-0-7879-8267-6
Hardcover
208 pages
August 2013, Jossey-Bass
This is a Print-on-Demand title. It will be printed specifically to fill your order. Please allow an additional 10-15 days delivery time. The book is not returnable.
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AC/DC tells the little-known story of how Thomas Edison
wrongly bet in the fierce war between supporters of alternating
current and direct current. The savagery of this electrical battle
can hardly be imagined today. The showdown between AC and DC began
as a rather straightforward conflict between technical standards, a
battle of competing methods to deliver essentially the same
product, electricity. But the skirmish soon metastasized into
something bigger and darker. In the AC/DC battle, the worst aspects
of human nature somehow got caught up in the wires; a silent,
deadly flow of arrogance, vanity, and cruelty. Following the path
of least resistance, the war of currents soon settled around that
most primal of human emotions: fear. AC/DC serves as an
object lesson in bad business strategy and poor decision making.
Edison's inability to see his mistake was a key factor in his loss
of control over the ?operating system? for his future
inventions?not to mention the company he founded, General Electric.