Hello Bcook. I'm not a Physics expert as others in this forum, but I have, by now, read over 10 books from scientists past (Robert Hooke, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Avicenna) and I can ratify that, even if the old books are good to bring new ideas, they don't have any secret science hidden behind them. You won't find the new thing by scrutinizing old knowledge or books.
You won't find a magical answer by searching something about Nikola Tesla, for example.
These are my 2 cents for you, as I have struggled in the past discerning good knowledge from bad knowledge. There are no easy answers in the past or a plot to keep knowledge from you.