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A review by kathykekmrs
The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures by Edward Ball
2.0
This was not a well-written biography. Yes, I know it is about two vastly different people with different personalities, but the writing itself was not great. First the text is two choppy. It jumps from scene to scene with little coherence in events. Since it was about two people, maybe one person' story should have gone first and then the other person's until they met and did the project together. Then there could have been the separation once again as their lives went along different paths. Another pet peeve I had was the fact that Edward Ball kept talking about building size as if it had a footprint. Buildings are on measured lots and then are measured in square feet for tax purposes. I do not understand this concept of footprints except as a term used by environmentalists in regards to fuel usage. Were people using that much fuel in the "Gilded Age"? A history book should give the reader the sense that he has been transported back in time. A well-written book describes the sights, sounds and smells for the reader and in this book it felt like Ball wanted to bring the past to the present.
The inventor was Eadweard Muybridge who invented moving pictures, but not a way to show them that would make a profit. The other supporting inventions would not come about until after he died. Thomas Edison, who is not well-liked by Ball did find a way to show them but not with sound. The tycoon is Leland Stanford,he who built a railroad and gave his fortune to the school named for his son. These men came together over horses. The movement of horses to be exact. Stanford was curious to know if the feet of horses left the ground during a gallop. The only man who had any experience with this kind of photography was Muybridge. He invented things for the camera that allowed for multiple shots, but not how to sell them that way. Book of still photographs were expensive and apparently boring to consumers. Cinemas did not yet exist and the first one would not come about until a year after Muybridge died.
This is not to say the book has no merits. I learned about California and of course the economic stranglehold that the railroad had California under. I just did not like all the jumping back and forth over decades in events while I was reading. There needs to be a natural progression when reading history and this book did not have it.
The inventor was Eadweard Muybridge who invented moving pictures, but not a way to show them that would make a profit. The other supporting inventions would not come about until after he died. Thomas Edison, who is not well-liked by Ball did find a way to show them but not with sound. The tycoon is Leland Stanford,he who built a railroad and gave his fortune to the school named for his son. These men came together over horses. The movement of horses to be exact. Stanford was curious to know if the feet of horses left the ground during a gallop. The only man who had any experience with this kind of photography was Muybridge. He invented things for the camera that allowed for multiple shots, but not how to sell them that way. Book of still photographs were expensive and apparently boring to consumers. Cinemas did not yet exist and the first one would not come about until a year after Muybridge died.
This is not to say the book has no merits. I learned about California and of course the economic stranglehold that the railroad had California under. I just did not like all the jumping back and forth over decades in events while I was reading. There needs to be a natural progression when reading history and this book did not have it.