Dianne (gardngal) reviewed The Inventor and the Tycoon: The Murderer Eadweard Muybridge, the Entrepreneur Leland Stanford, and the Birth of Moving Pictures on + 276 more book reviews
Well written and thoroughly researched. Depicts the mid-1800's during the time of Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, and the infant railroad. Inventors of many new products and technologies flourished. Photography was in its infancy. This fascinating period tells the story of Edward Muybridge (he changed his name frequently to suit his current persona). He was the friend and personal photographer for Leland Stanford, founder of the Central Pacific RR and Stanford University, and who at one time owned all of Palo Alto, CA. He "collected" horses. It was his question about whether all a horse's hooves are completely off the ground when running that led to Muybridge's efforts to "stop motion". Muybridge was always fascinated with the effort of "stopping time" with his photography. Stanford directed his own engineers to aid him to design and build the equipment he needed to capture movement in photographs. He was the first to use light and project images onto a screen for an audience. This in turn led to "moving pictures". Fascinating to read about San Francisco and the Napa Valley at their very beginnings. Mining, Chinese immigrants, all of it is here. Great read!
