Thomas Edison spent the second half of his life in West Orange, about 10 miles from New York City. There he built his last and largest laboratory, where he developed motion pictures, improved the phonograph, and built an international business empire, earning over half of his 1,093 patents. The five laboratory buildings housed over 100 experimenters busily engaged in invention and innovation. As they turned ideas into commercial products, Edison surrounded the laboratory with factories that employed over 4,000 workers. From the first days, staff photographers documented every aspect of life in this town within a town.

Thomas Edison spent the second half of his life in West Orange, about 10 miles from New York City. There he built his last and largest laboratory, where he developed motion pictures, improved the phonograph, and built an international business empire, earning over half of his 1,093 patents. The five laboratory buildings housed over 100 experimenters busily engaged in invention and innovation. As they turned ideas into commercial products, Edison surrounded the laboratory with factories that employed over 4,000 workers. From the first days, staff photographers documented every aspect of life in this town within a town.

#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller The Obstacle is the Way has become a cult classic, beloved by men and women around the world who apply its wisdom to become more successful at whatever they do. Its many fans include a former governor and movie star (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a hip hop icon (LL Cool J), an Irish tennis pro (James McGee), an NBC sportscaster (Michele Tafoya), and the coaches and players of winning teams like the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Chicago Cubs, and University of Texas men’s basketball team. The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” Ryan Holiday shows us how some of the most successful people in history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—have applied stoicism to overcome difficult or even impossible situations. Their embrace of these principles ultimately mattered more than their natural intelligence, talents, or luck. If you’re feeling frustrated, demoralized, or stuck in a rut, this book can help you turn your problems into your biggest advantages. And along the way it will inspire you with dozens of true stories of the greats from every age and era.

Although West Orange is best known for Thomas Edison, there is much more to this New Jersey town than its famous inventor. Through vintage postcards, West Orange explores the towns history from the days of cable cars that once climbed the mountain to the long-gone amusement park at Crystal Lake. Postcards illustrate how Llewellyn Park and Eagle Rock share a common beginning and West Orange once had two train stations. The familiar roads of home come alive as images reveal West Oranges rich history.

Chronicles the life and work of the inventor through primary and previously unseen sources, including personal and business correspondence, photographs, drawings, advertising materials, and lab notebooks.