The Scientist, the Madman, the Thief and their Lightbulb [Paperback]

'A fascinating account of a quest which has been underway for at least a century involving dozens of bizarre characters'

'His writing is clear, his reporting thorough and his arguments crisp'

'The inventors ... could hardly have asked for a better intercessor than Tutt. Vivid, level-headed and engrossing'

THE SCIENTIST, THE MADMAN, THE THIEF AND THEIR LIGHTBULB reveals the revolutionary work of inventors and scientists who have struggled to develop clean and 'fuelless' new ways to produce the electricity we need for the 21st century and beyond. If the technologies could be developed commercially, they would offer almost costless energy, which would mean the end of the oil economy and freely available electricity throughout the developed and underdeveloped world. THE SCIENTIST, THE MADMAN, THE THIEF AND THEIR LIGHTBULB contains the elements of a dramatic conspiracy thriller in which greed, mendacity, murder, suicide, suppression, betrayal, jealousy, madness and misunderstood genius all play their full parts. It also investigates the complex psychology of invention and reserves a chapter for those inventors who are either self-deluded mavericks or charlatans who aim to trick gullible investors out of their savings. Most importantly, there are technologies here that offer to solve the planet's most serious problem: global warming and climate change caused by fossil fuel power plants and car emissions. Is the technological solution to global warming contained within these pages?

Keith Tutt studied psychology and philosophy at Bristol University before becoming a full-time writer in 1981. He has produced a number of science and environmental TV programmes for the BBC. In 1993 he was the winner of the prestigious BT Science Journalism of the Year Award, for his documentary, KILLING US SOFTLY?, about the Sizewell 'B' nuclear power station.