The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth

Written by Kathleen Krull

Illustrated by Greg Couch

Alfred A. Knopf 2009

Approx age 8 & up

There are few people who can say they had a world-changing idea before they finished puberty. Philo Taylor Farnsworth did that while plowing a potato field when he was fourteen, with an absolute minimum of schooling. Born in the early part of the twentieth century, Philo was raised on farms, travelling to the next farmstead by covered wagon. Despite his lack of a formal education, he was a voracious reader. When one of the family homes finally had electric lighting, he trained himself to wake up an hour early to read before he had to start his chores. With the age of electricity still in it's infancy, Farnsworth, by having discussions with the family's electrical repairman, self-taught himself to be an electrician. Inspired by a magazine's depiction of how television might one day work, he set about to invent one himself. Seeing the rows and rows of parallel furrows in his potato field, he realized that electricity could trick the eye into seeing lines of light as full images. Though it took him 8 more years, and an ill-advised mustache, to make a working prototype, Philo T Farnsworth changed the way people receive information forever.

The latest in Kathleen Krull's series of childhood biographies of significant people, this time out she has chosen a subject the vast majority of people, television watchers or otherwise, know nothing about. Her decision to focus on their early years is critical to the appeal of these books for children, as they are not only informative, but inspiring. Her past work of bio's, including Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, tend to focus on dreamers, and who can dispute that people who go far, think far. She shies away from dealing with Farnsworth's eventual legal problems and eventual resentment with the medium he helped create, leaving that to the author's notes.

Greg Couch's illustrations were done using washes and coloured pencils, combined with his use of technical diagram overlays, give a very layered look. The drawings appear weathered, like a picture found in a water logged Scientific American from the 40's. While most of the time this is used to great effect, there are a few pages that come across muddy, and a bit too muted.

Krull's biographies are awesome for weird kids. We need stories like Philo's to inspire the next generations to never forget to get lost in their heads, because when they find their way out, their ideas can revolutionize everything.