This book was a very interesting blend of fact and fiction about one of the most interesting men in history. Nikola Tesla was an eccentric genius that invented many things we use everyday. By the opening pages of the book he is broke and living in a Hotel, where his life is ruled by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

In this book a maid from the New Yorker Hotel named Louisa happens upon the aging recluse who has become quite a legend to the hotel staff and guests. In this book you learn her story as well as his including great ancedotes about fascinating people like Edison, Westinghouse, and Mark Twain.

While the present tense of this book is where the fiction lies the historical aspects seem very accurate as far as my limited Tesla research goes. This book is very interesting and if you are not famialiar with the story of Nikola Tesla you should pick this one up! He is an under-appreciated part of our history!

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If I can learn one new thing while reading a book, I'm pretty pleased. In that regard, The Invention of Everything Else is more than pleasing. At times I felt like I should be taking notes (did you know limicine means slug-like? I didn't). I mean that in the best possible way.

Not quite faction; not quite historical novel, The Invention of Everything Else tells the story of the last days of the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla at the Hotel New Yorker. This is imagined history interwoven with real history. History as we all sort of wish it could be.

This is a fascinating, at times baffling, and always compelling novel. The writing is superb and I think most readers will find this not only highly readable, but also highly educational, a quality only the finest examples of fiction can manage without being heavy handed.

Highly recommended, especially for those who know little about Tesla, as I suspect this will spark a further interest to learn more about the mysterious inventor.


4.5 Bryant Park pigeons out of 5

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