Animoto- Thomas Edison

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Review- Critics Call

My book is called Thomas Edison. The author is Linda Tagliaferro, copyright date is 2003, and the publication was by Lerner Publications Company. I would definitely read another book by this author! This book was so great about giving GOOD facts, staying on topic, showing pictures only about Thomas Edison, and adding character to the book. It also didn't go on and on about facts, and facts, and more facts! The critics call on this book is... 5 stars! I highly recommend reading this book when needing a biography.

My Burdens that Held me Down

Though I always tried to be happy, big things burdened me in life. I had to live with first, being almost deaf. Though I never lost the ability to communicate with people, I being going deaf at a very young age. I'm actually thankful that I didn't give up doing something just because I was almost completely deaf. But this obstacle was a strong challenge through out my life, and it was hard to live with.

One day, on April 9, 1874, my mother died. I tried and tried to get over it, but I just couldn't get the fact that she was gone. I worked on my inventions to try to make it better, but I knew it wasn't helping one bit. Last, was the tragic day of December 9, 1914. A while back, I had built a factory complex in West Orange, New Jersey. I had done all my research and pretty much spent my whole life there. So on this day, a fire starts, and the whole factory is destroyed in burnt pieces. Though the factory was gone, I already began planning on how I was going to build my other one. On New Years Day in 1915, my workers surprised me with the first phonograph produced after some of the machinery had been destroyed. This sure did lift my spirits up! :)

Things that Make me Different from Others

As everyone knows, all of us are different in our own way. So, here are some things special and unique about me!

In my earlier years as a child, I went to school for a relatively short period of time. I was home schooled by my mother, so whatever she knew, I knew. I went out to find a job at age twelve, which was very young, so you probably think that was it for my learning years, but that's wrong. I learned many things off of just reading books! Now some people might think that books teach you absolutely nothing, but that is very wrong! You see, by reading books, I learned a ton of information. This information helped me on creating my inventions, and my studies.

Another very unique thing about me was that I got my own personal moment of silence, when I died on October 18, 1931. On this very same day, at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time, the whole Untied States' lights were turned off for one minute in remembrance of me. This moment, was to honor what I did for the world. Again with the bragging, I know, sorry, but that's a pretty cool thing America did! Another pretty spectacular thing that happened to me was on October 20, 1928, I was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. The government bestowed the medal on me for my lifelong contribute to science. The front of the gold medal, has me on it, while the back reads, "He Illuminated the Path of Progress by His Inventions." This award is pretty special because it's the HIGHEST award given to civilians in the United States.

Special Traits that Descirbe Me!

I have put together a couple character traits so that you get to know the kind of person I "really" am. They're curious, hardworking, intelligent, devoted, and perseverance.

Curious- I am VERY curious about things. When I was younger, my school teacher would always get upset at me because I simply would ask too many questions. I always wanted to learn something new and get the answers to my questions I ask. One day, while at home, I asked my dad a question. He didn't know the answer, and so I became frustrated with him and asked, "Why don't you know the answer daddy?" This PROVES me to be curious about many things and always wanting to learn more things that would fascinate me.

Hardworking- At my lab, I would spend too many hours there, according to my wives, trying and trying to figure out my experiment I was working on at the time. I wouldn't stop working, (Some people might call me stubborn!), until I successfully invented what I was working on. And when I finally finished, I would become curious about another thing, and start working on that until it was finished.

Intelligent- I don't mean to brag, but I was also very intelligent. My mind was always turning with ideas on how I could invent or improve on something. I read many books and anything I could grab, which made me very smart. I created the phonograph, the first light bulb, a generator for electric lighting, the kinetscope (the first movie viewer), and many more minor devices.

Devoted- I was devoted to my studies and work all the time. Though I probably shouldn't have, I put my work first a lot of times before my family. If I was inventing something, I would read many books about the subject and try to find more information on it.

Perseverance- Last, but not least, I tried and tried to go through life happy and joyful and not let anything get to me. When times went tough, I tried not to give up, or to grieve about something from the past. Many things happened to me, such as my mother dying, I becoming deaf, and many more minor things. Just to let you know, I always tried to persevere through life, even though it can be hard sometimes.

My Inventions that Changed the World

I have done many things in my life, up to this very day. I impacted the world and created the Age of Electricity and improved the world of entertainment! My inventions were all very unique and I'm proud of what I have done.

It all started out in 1868, when I invented the automatic vote recorder, which was designed to make voting easier for legislators at Congressional meetings. I was greatly disappointed when politicians rejected my idea, and just told myself to never work on inventions unless there was a market for it. But in 1869, I couldn't resist not inventing, and moved to New York City and became a full-time inventor. In 1871, I invented the stock-ticker and was offered 40,000 dollars for it, an enormous amount of money for this time! I didn't stop inventing and in 1874, I invented the quadruplex telegraph for my company Western Union, which could transmit four messages at a time. I also invented the electric pen, which created a stencil to produce multiple copies of letters.

In 1876, I move to Menlo Park, New Jersey, and established my first research laboratory. In 1877, people hired me to improve Alexander Graham's telephone, and I tied my best to make it better. I made it so you can talk to people more than one hundred miles away! In this same year, I invented the Phonograph, which was an introduce to the world of entertainment. In 1879, I changed the world. On New Years Eve of 1879, 3000 people came to watch in Menlo Park, New Jersey to watch the first light bulb light up. Skipping a few years, I invented the kinetoscope, the first movie viewer in 1891. And then I opened the Vitascope to the world! The first commercial motion picture projector in the United States. In 1899, I started working on the storage battery and improving it. And it took me nine years to improve it, (I was also working on other inventions, I skip around a lot! ) Now my last and final invention was in 1912, when I put my disk records on the market.