New York City thrums with energy, wonder, and possibility in this magical novel about the life of Nikola Tesla. are on an unlikely mission to trave...
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reviews
Feb 25, 2008
Leslie
rated it: 
When I worked at Barnes & Noble, I would occasionally glance at the learning packets sent to all employees company-wide. In a particularly annoying campaign aimed at bringing us wee booksellers into an assumed corporate culture of Book Lust, they introduced us to a term that I despised from the get-go.
Unputdownable.
Un-put-down-able. Adjective. The otherwise indescribable characteristic of a book that keeps its reader's face glued between its pages. Recommended for use More...
Unputdownable.
Un-put-down-able. Adjective. The otherwise indescribable characteristic of a book that keeps its reader's face glued between its pages. Recommended for use More...
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(25 people liked it)
May 04, 2008
Meghan
rated it:
Where do I even start about how good this book is? I mean first of all it's the best book I've read so far this year. It features many things I love: historically-accurate descriptions of New York City landmarks, NIKOLA TESLA, a love story, government spies, time travel, and that's just to get us started.
I think what it is, it's just that Samantha Hunt writes complete fabric. This is a short book but it is extremely dense, you don't want to miss anything and nor should you. I'm kind More...
I think what it is, it's just that Samantha Hunt writes complete fabric. This is a short book but it is extremely dense, you don't want to miss anything and nor should you. I'm kind More...
2 comments
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(8 people liked it)
Mar 17, 2008
Maggie
rated it: 
"God said, 'Let Tesla be,' and all was light."
- B. A. Behrend
Nikola Tesla is arguably one of the most important inventors to have ever lived, yet one of the most unsung. To him, we can credit the efficient alternating electrical current system, the remote control, and the radio (although Marconi stole the patent for that last one). He harnessed Niagara Falls' energy potential, is credited with giving birth to robotics, and his "Tesla Coil" gave us neon and fluo More...
- B. A. Behrend
Nikola Tesla is arguably one of the most important inventors to have ever lived, yet one of the most unsung. To him, we can credit the efficient alternating electrical current system, the remote control, and the radio (although Marconi stole the patent for that last one). He harnessed Niagara Falls' energy potential, is credited with giving birth to robotics, and his "Tesla Coil" gave us neon and fluo More...
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(5 people liked it)
Jul 16, 2008
Amitha
rated it: 
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was beautiful in concept, containing a genius (real-life) scientist, time-travel, romance, and espionage, but somehow I had trouble staying interested. The narrative jumped around a lot and was mostly written in present tense, which I found oddly off-putting. The writing was swirly and ambiguous, filled with ambitious metaphors. But still, I'm not sure why I wasn't captivated by this book and the beautiful writing. The author did an excellent job of
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Feb 07, 2009
Jason
rated it:
An astonishingly beautiful evocation of 1940s New York City, and the last days of Nikola Tesla, as befriended by Louisa, a chambermaid in the Hotel New Yorker. Poignant and gorgeously told, with an honest enthusiasm for the age of invention, brought to a screeching close by the advent of corporations and the commodification of the natural world. Hunt manages to bring Tesla to life through his interactions with Louisa, his long-term relationship with a pet pigeon, and his letters to Samuel Clemen
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 27, 2008
Zach
rated it:
“The Invention of Everything Else” was a beautifully written story – the kind of story that I would aspire to writing because it so masterfully combines lovely imagery with brilliant and inspiring ideas: it is both a poem and a philosophy, a soul and a story, depicting love, life, and all of the most touching interstices therein.
Apr 29, 2008
Finney Jean
rated it:
Samantha Hunt is a very gifted writer.
Fact and fiction, science and imagination, life and death (oh, and love and love) are blurred. Hunt brings Tesla to life -- so much so that I considered dropping by the New Yorker for a visit. Everyone is so goddamn likable in Hunt's head (except Edison, though I guess he had it coming to him) that I was smitten for several days. Beautiful, funny, sad, and well-told; I think you ought to read it. However, I would not recommend this book if you a More...
Fact and fiction, science and imagination, life and death (oh, and love and love) are blurred. Hunt brings Tesla to life -- so much so that I considered dropping by the New Yorker for a visit. Everyone is so goddamn likable in Hunt's head (except Edison, though I guess he had it coming to him) that I was smitten for several days. Beautiful, funny, sad, and well-told; I think you ought to read it. However, I would not recommend this book if you a More...
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Mar 25, 2008
Danna
rated it:
"Everybody steals in commerce and industry. I've stolen a lot myself. But I know how to steal." Thomas Edison
An understatement, to say the least.
I'm a few chapters into this marvelously imagined and deftly written novel, which pivots around extraordinary inventor Nikola Tesla - a man clearly more interested in the landscape of ideas than receiving fame or credit for his inventions - and an unlikely relationship that develops with a young chambermaid. Pigeon More...
An understatement, to say the least.
I'm a few chapters into this marvelously imagined and deftly written novel, which pivots around extraordinary inventor Nikola Tesla - a man clearly more interested in the landscape of ideas than receiving fame or credit for his inventions - and an unlikely relationship that develops with a young chambermaid. Pigeon More...
Feb 11, 2012
Tony
rated it:
THE INVENTION OF EVERYTHING ELSE. (2008). Samantha Hunt. **.
The novel has an interesting premise, but the delivery was faulty. It’s the story of the last days of Nicola Tesla, and the friendship that developed between him and a chambermaid that worked at the New Yorker Hotel where he spent the remaining part of his life. Tesla, to tickle your memory, was a great inventor who did not receive credit for much of his work because he didn’t reduce most of it to practice. He is credited w More...
The novel has an interesting premise, but the delivery was faulty. It’s the story of the last days of Nicola Tesla, and the friendship that developed between him and a chambermaid that worked at the New Yorker Hotel where he spent the remaining part of his life. Tesla, to tickle your memory, was a great inventor who did not receive credit for much of his work because he didn’t reduce most of it to practice. He is credited w More...
Jul 26, 2011
A fictionalised life of Serbian scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla, who spent much of his life in New York - an eccentric genius who invented the radio and AC electricity, among many more outlandish ideas, but who eventually faded into obscurity and poverty. The story is interwoven with an entirely fictional account of a housemaid in the hotel where Tesla is living (Louisa) and her father, whose life has become frozen following the death of his wife many years previously. This is an excellent
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Jul 05, 2011
Kirstie
rated it: 
Here's this weird aspect of my personality that likes creative nonfiction and learning about different people but gets nervous when it's too "creative" or embellished. That's how I felt about this book, which uses some biographical information that has already been written and the actual events of his life but is still, and admits so, a work of fiction. This is a fun read-involving inventors, time machines and a sense of humanity.
However, I still felt a bit of unease as I' More...
However, I still felt a bit of unease as I' More...
Jun 09, 2011
Jeruen
rated it:
It's been a while since I had published a book review. In fact, it was 17 days since I published the last book review I had. And there is a reason for that.
The thing is, I am one of those people in which I cannot leave a book half-read. Even if I disliked the book, I would try to read it all the way to the end, with the hope that somewhere in the middle, the book would change a bit, and I would come to like it. Most of the times, the books would turn out that way, you know, those books More...
The thing is, I am one of those people in which I cannot leave a book half-read. Even if I disliked the book, I would try to read it all the way to the end, with the hope that somewhere in the middle, the book would change a bit, and I would come to like it. Most of the times, the books would turn out that way, you know, those books More...
Feb 27, 2011
switterbug (Betsey)
rated it:
Samantha Hunt's novel is an historical fiction surrounding the last months of the life of Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current electricity. His life was much obscured by the better known Thomas Edison; however, as this book well illuminates, Edison was more rigid, conforming, capitalistic. It is a story about creativity, artistic inspiration, and imagining the unimaginable. What happens if the spirit can transcend into reality? What if a powerful intuition can link us to something i
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Jun 20, 2009
Diana
rated it:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have found myself thinking about it in the weeks since I finished it. Before I read the book, I read someplace that this would be a hit with fans of The Time Traveler's Wife, and I can see why that connection was made. While this novel doesn't have lovers shuttling back and forth in time, the element of time travel is one of the secondary plotlines, but thankfully not in a geeky annoying science fiction way, thankfully.
The story revolves around Lou More...
The story revolves around Lou More...
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Jul 28, 2011
Adriane
rated it:
This scintillating and poignant novel is a peerless combination of science, history, psychology and romance that easily makes my top ten sci-fi list. If ever I could write the perfect novel, it would be this one; and now that it’s written, my work as an author must be done, with no money or glory to show for it, @!*#!
Samantha Hunt set themes of loneliness & madness, love and wonder against a thoroughly believable backdrop of the “electric wars”--the race toward futuristic in More...
Sep 27, 2009
Mark
rated it:
I like to read historical fiction because it's a way to learn about a person or an event or an era without getting bogged down in the "my sources are better than yours" pettiness that seems to come out often in non-fiction.
This book delivered with good insights into an inventor who was more interested in discovery than execution. It is a terrific exploration of one of the most prolific and acute scientific minds of our time. Tesla is credited with the discovery -- but, imp More...
This book delivered with good insights into an inventor who was more interested in discovery than execution. It is a terrific exploration of one of the most prolific and acute scientific minds of our time. Tesla is credited with the discovery -- but, imp More...
May 17, 2009
saadia k
rated it:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
It is interesting in terms of both character development and content. Actually, it reminds me of Oh Pure and Radiant Heart in some ways; the female protagonist who is open to wonder, but also smart and insightful, and the enigmatic men of history who really lend themselves to this kind of fiction, not to mention that whole "blurring the lines between possible and not" thing. Overall, though, I definitely preferred this book to the other.
I More...
It is interesting in terms of both character development and content. Actually, it reminds me of Oh Pure and Radiant Heart in some ways; the female protagonist who is open to wonder, but also smart and insightful, and the enigmatic men of history who really lend themselves to this kind of fiction, not to mention that whole "blurring the lines between possible and not" thing. Overall, though, I definitely preferred this book to the other.
I More...
Jul 14, 2011
Linda
rated it:
I had invented reasons not to like this book. Any woman who is on any list of fabulous under 35 raises my eyebrows. And my super-sensory fault-finding devices. It's historical fiction, which I claim not to like out loud regularly. I loved this book. The electricity that plays both a protagonist and antagonist role zizzes on every page. Tesla is wholly imagined, as though he is sitting in a chair next to you reading the book, correcting impressions, making suggestions. Louisa is human and otherwo
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Aug 28, 2010
Cindy
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 03, 2010
Teresa
rated it:
Before reading The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt all I knew about Tesla was that he was a scientist who discovered some amazing stuff (although I couldn t have said what). Hunt makes Tesla a character in this, her second novel, and readers are treated to an exploration of both Tesla s discoveries and his eccentricities.[return][return]Set in New York City in the 1943, the novel alternates between Tesla and Louise, a chambermaid at the Hotel New Yorker, where Tesla is living out
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Jan 23, 2011
Bobbi
rated it:
NYC - 1943 - New Year's Eve -The New Yorker Hotel
So much was happening in the world in 1943, but this novel takes us on a journey involving several people who interact and intertwine in NYC. Nikola Tesla, the patron saint of electricity, lives in the New Yorker. Inventor of AC and known by biographers as the inventor of the 20th century, his story is lovingly splayed in what might seem a cross between science fiction and historical fiction. I actually did google the fact More...
Feb 05, 2009
Hunt's sophomore novel entranced most critics. Hunt (The Seas, 2006), who received the National Book Foundation's first "5 under 35" Award for gifted young writers, weaves together the unbelievable facts of Tesla's life with some unbelievable fictions of her own creation. The result is a gripping, outlandish, and, at times, tragic story. A few critics found the plot clumsy and the language overly precious, but the majority praised Hunt for her articulate, even poetic, portrayal of a fa
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Aug 01, 2011
John
rated it:
I really quite enjoyed this, although it was not a good book to do my usual thing of picking it up and putting it down over an extended period; you really need to read it quickly over a short period in order to remember the characters, how they relate to each other and to keep with the story, which can appear a little disjointed. It is, however an interesting if fanciful story building upon the tale of Nikola Tesla,a real character and a Serbian immigrant to the United States who seems to have
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Aug 01, 2009
Jemima
rated it:
The once famous inventor Nikola Tesla has been "left alone talking to lightning storms, studying the mysterious patterns the dust of dead people makes as it floats through the last light of day." (p.2) He lives in the Hotel New Yorker; a lonely, penniless, forgotten old man. His only companionship is pigeons and memories of former years. Louisa, a chambermaid in the same hotel has an infatuation with radio dramas and a love for the pigeons that she keeps on the roof of her house. She l
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Feb 12, 2011
Becky
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A little Tesla, pigeons, a curious chamber-maid named Louisa, her father and his crazy friend who invents a time travel machine, plus an old-schoolmate who magically appears and becomes a part of her life.
Fun book that uses Tesla's actual life as a framework for the novel. Construction is alternating chapter written from 1st person of Tesla's from his life from a l boy in Serbia to 1943 when he is 83 and meets Louisa, and 3rd person looking at Louisa's life and relationships. Point More...
Fun book that uses Tesla's actual life as a framework for the novel. Construction is alternating chapter written from 1st person of Tesla's from his life from a l boy in Serbia to 1943 when he is 83 and meets Louisa, and 3rd person looking at Louisa's life and relationships. Point More...
Mar 25, 2008
Pia
rated it:
I loved this book. It's got many moving parts and celebrates the joy of making not money, but things that work. The architecture of the book is inventive, driven by curiosity and compassion, the urge to fly and the desire to love and be loved. I followed along happily.
Oct 07, 2010
Ruby
rated it:
For the first 100 pages, I absolutely adored 'The Invention of Everything Else'. I was just waiting for things to come together, but the writing was beautiful and the setting and the details and the pigeons and Freddie. But the thing is, things never seemed really to get together for me. There were two plotlines, Tesla's and Louisa's and they weren't as interwoven as I'd have liked them to be. I started to realize this during the last 50 pages, where I understood that there was no time left to b
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May 14, 2008
Robin
rated it:
What a great book! I was lost in 1943 as I followed the protagonist through her ritual of cleaning the rooms at the Hotel New Yorker...
And if you haven't seen The Prestige, I suggest you do... as Nikolas Tesla is in that movie as well....
And if you haven't seen The Prestige, I suggest you do... as Nikolas Tesla is in that movie as well....
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Apr 13, 2010
Matthew
rated it:
Sometimes when reading this book, I wanted to pause and write down an excerpt, just because it was so beautifully written... which is something I never do. Usually I prefer utilitarian prose (which is one reason I'm not the biggest poetry fan), but some of the lines in this book are so perfect.
This book also sparked an interest in Nikola Tesla. I need to read a biography, because his life seems super interesting.
Um. What else? I loved almost all the main characters, espec More...
This book also sparked an interest in Nikola Tesla. I need to read a biography, because his life seems super interesting.
Um. What else? I loved almost all the main characters, espec More...
Jun 27, 2008
Sherry
rated it:
This book really whetted my appetite to learn more about Tesla. What a fascinating man. I wish he were here with us today to help solve the energy crises. Hunt's book is fanciful, entertaining, well-researched and well-written.
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