About this Book

"With his more than one thousand inventions, Edison symbolizes the inauguration of the electro-industrial era of our time. Edison was almost Franklinian in his defiance of the doctrines of pure science. He was an experimenter and a practical man more than an ingenious theoretician. His inventions were the product of a methodical and prodding mind... The editor has endeavored, in this volume, to present to the reader a selection of Edison's social and philosophic ideas taken from the available notes, statements and observations of the inventor. The reader will find that many of Edison's casual remarks made decades ago have a definite contemporary significance. His propositions in ethics, philsosophy, music and education show a rare combination of whimsey and deep sincerity"--from preface (pages xi and xii).