Edison's Gold

After finishing The Ghost at the Window, I jumped right into Edison's Gold by Geoff Watson.  This was a fun read - full of adventure and treasure hunting.  The main characters in this story are Tom and his two best friends Noodle and Colby.  Tom is the great-great grandson of THE Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb.  Thomas Edison's descendants have struggled to live up to his name and Tom is no different.  He loves to invent but has trouble with follow-through and ends up with one disaster after another.  Noodle and Colby usually end up in trouble along with Tom, as best friends often do.  But when they stumble upon a clue to the family secret, Tom sees his chance to redeem his family name.  The three friends band together to go on a dangerous treasure hunt full of excitement, secret societies, famous people, treasure, and unexpected twists and turns.

The story circles around a feud between the original Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, inventor of the Tesla Coil (and several other major inventions).  Look below for some links to more information on both Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.

Also, stop by and visit Mr. Watson's website here:  http://geoffwatsonbooks.com/bio/  His site is short and sweet but he does have an interesting blog about writing.  Here is a .pdf file with some great discussion questions about the book:  http://www.egmontusa.com/files/2010/10/Edisons-Gold-Final.pdf

Thomas Edison:

bio:  http://www.biography.com/articles/Thomas-Alva-Edison-9284349

Timeline of Edison's Inventions:  http://www.buzzle.com/articles/timeline-of-thomas-edison-inventions.html

Cool article about predictions Thomas Edison made and whether they came true or not:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/pictures/110211-thomas-edison-google-doodle-164th-birthday-anniversary-science/

Really in depth site about Edison's papers and books he wrote:  http://edison.rutgers.edu/

Nikola Tesla:

bio:  http://www.pbs.org/tesla/

Another bio:  http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Nikola_Tesla.htm

Tesla's own memorial society:  http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm

And finally, the Edison vs. Tesla fued was real!  Here is some interesting information about it:

http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/science-feuds/science-feuds-02.html

NY Times article about the feud:  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/off-goes-the-power-current-started-by-thomas-edison/


Lots of great information to digest and a good book to go along with it!  Happy Reading!

Mrs. H