Nerdy Show

I have been observing nerdcore hip-hop for some time now, and I’ve noticed a somewhat steady divide on the definition of what is “good nerdcore.” It basically boils down to the nerdcore vs. hip-hop argument: do you prefer something more nerdcore than hip-hop or vice-versa? Truth be told: I prefer the nerdcore over the hip-hop. I want to hear something unique and genuinely “geeky.” There are those out there that pretty much BAG on nerdy rappers that try to do their own thing if it means sounding less street, and that’s something I just can’t agree with. Don’t get me wrong: I am a staunch supporter of artists like Dual Core, MegaRan, or (of course) YTCracker, who definitely have a rich hip-hop feel to them, but they stand out for me because, though they seem to pull strongly from “conventional” hip-hop for their stylistic inspiration, they rap about nerdy topics not because they’re trying to seemingly “fit in” but because that’s WHO they are.

I preface my review of MC COOL WHIP’s recent release with this to let you know where I stand in the unwritten argument of nerdcore. If you turn to nerdcore because you are hoping for something that is more or less hip-hop with the occasional nerdy references, you may not enjoy this album as much as I did. However, if you are actually interested in someone’s experimenting in what nerdcore can be, then read on.

I guess I should ALSO forwarn that I am a bit of a supporter of the young WHIP. I’ve been listening to (and critiquing) demos since 2007, happily opened my home as a place to crash for two Nerdapaloozas, and artisted (Editor’s note: Hex likes to make verbs out of non-verbs and out of annoyance I left this one in. HA!) his two most recent album covers, so that may lead you to believe that I am more biased than the next reviewer. You would be correct. However, my bias won’t be expressed as lauding incorrect praises upon this young rapper, instead I give you a bit of a case study of how he has progressed over the years as an artist. I am not of the opinion that coddling will help someone improve. I see COOL WHIP as someone who is still developing as an artist and a performer, so until he has found his final niche, it’s actually my duty as someone in his corner to not pamper him so that he can grow.

If COOL WHIP’S time in the scene was his study into nerdcore, Cool Whip Recipes would be his thesis. His VERY rapping style has been both his most appealing trait and his darkest of cardinal sins according to the two camps of nerdcore. Obviously influenced by MC Frontalot‘s unorthodox style, COOL WHIP raps with a pronounced and seemingly stiff flow (as contradictory as that may sound) and it’s DIFFERENT! It was COOL WHIP’s rejection of standards of hip-hop in his style and subject matter alongside his enthusiasm that fist endeared him to me. I feel that the album has shown how much he’s grown since then, gaining confidence and showing certainty that his style is that: HIS.

The album showcased an array of collaborations, from the spellbinding Schaffer the Darklord in the Faustian Sick Skills to the unfortunately distracting Grizzly C on You’ve Been Bitten. What Do I Do?, the first horror/love song I’ve ever thoroughly enjoyed (or heard for that matter). COOL WHIP stayed pretty consistent throughout the album and the collaborations sometimes helped and sometimes hurt the track. I will also admit that I braced myself before listening to the album, expecting mediocrity, but was pretty impressed by All Around Awesome and was glad to see my favorite track from The Man Cave make it onto the album (Welcome to Ohio).

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CONCLUSION: 3.9/5.0
I think that MC COOL WHIP has truly outdone himself with this album and that he’s on a path to his own style. I don’t feel that he’s fully discovered his final sound, but he has grown confidence that what he’s doing is right, and that’s a good direction. This album is worth what he’s charging for it, as the bulk of it is truly enjoyable. As I’ve said, if you’re not into trying out an unorthodox sound to hip-hop you may not find this enjoyable, but if you’re looking for a unique rap experience that travels into space, the zombie apocalypse, and a high school essay on why you’re proud of your state, than this is definitely worth a listen.

For a LIMITED time offer, MC COOL WHIP has offered Cool Whip Recipes to you for half price! All you have to do is go to his Bandcamp Page and put in the promotional code of coolbeans, and you’ll get the album for only $5!

And we’re back! Time to try to do a weekly review! There’s a lot of awesome music being released, and seeing how these artists like to send music my way, I might as well do them the favor back by letting you know how awesome it is! Let’s jump into George Hrab’s Trebuchet!

A new discovery for me, I was introduced to Geo by my beloved fiance (and PHENOMENAL editor), Diana who is a bit of a skepticism and science fan girl. She actually first got me hooked on his podcast, and it was there that I started getting hooked on his music. She ordered an older album, Coelocanth, which I quickly became infatuated with! If time treats me well, I’ll get around to reviewing that as well, as it is an amazing listen. I started looking forward to Trebuchet’s release with the same rabid anticipation as Diana had been exhibiting for a month prior. When Geo announced on his podcast that I, as a podcaster, had an open invitation to play the entirety of the new album, I leaped at the opportunity! It was an honor not only to play the album and interview Mr. Hrab on Nerdy Show, but also to host him as a performer at Nerdapalooza 2010. Like so many in the nerd music family, Geo is as polite and gracious as he is talented, and with almost every instrument on this eclectic album played by him, he continues to set a standard for musicality unforeseen in today’s age of digital plug and play.

For the last week, I’ve left this album in the car to listen to while driving to and fro, trying to pinpoint how I wanted to express my feelings for it. It wasn’t until recently that I realized the difficulty spawned from how dynamic the songs are, jumping in genre, content, and tone. The only constant, besides Geo himself, seemed to be the quality of the music. I’m going to put on my critic hat for a sec and say that usually, when dealing with most nerd music, studio production value almost always takes the backseat in an artist’s mind, something I have to check out on in order to power through the album. With Hrab though, the bar is raised, and it’ll be difficult going back to the farm.

Another interesting element is how the album is a whole other experience from the live Geologic experience, which is an incredibly dapper gentlemen with a guitar and music stand. Meanwhile, the album’s music content runs the gamut from the usual four-piece rock equation, to having a focus on percussion, to a beautiful string backup, to a veritable funk authority backing him. The listening experience is TRULY enjoyable throughout, where you can feel the amount of love that went into each and every track from concept, to delivery, to production and post. Be it the most cheerful existential song you’ll ever find (Everything Alive Will Die Some Day), the nostalgia inducing When I Was Your Age, the truly funky Hai Yookita ‘Ya, or the intense musical experience that is the title track to the album, Trebuchet, Geo will keep you riveted, thinking, and laughing, waiting to see what he’ll do next on this breathtaking album.

It would totally behoove me if I were to wrap up this review without pointing out the incredible effort that also went into the album cover creation, which you can see on this time lapse video taken over the four days it took to turn a wall into a work of art. Every square inch of the intricate liner notes are photographed from the wall. Clever to the end, Geo left little jokes throughout the entire notes, including an image that alluded to the rest of his musical catalog. In the Nerdy Show interview, we had the chance to discuss this with him, finding out more on his music philosophy in this digital age. If people want the mp3s, they’ll find a way to get them whether or not they pay. So, Geo commits himself to making his albums something more, something enjoyable, such as Coelacanth, where the album is designed like a carefully packed parcel of a biological sample sent to a museum. It’s important to point out exactly how much energy Geo put into the presentation of the album, for I feel it STILL pales in comparison to the amount of effort you can feel in the album itself.

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CONCLUSION :: 4.8 / 5.0

This should be high on your list of albums to purchase, however if you’re STILL not convinced you should throw down the coin for a copy of Trebuchet before trying out the Geologic experience for yourself, let me remind you that Geo is letting you test ride it before you buy it! The album, in its entirety, for your streaming pleasure. Thanks for reading!

[hex]

I was wandering in the woods behind the Nerdy Show compound this afternoon, and found this.  I was shocked, the game doesn’t come out until next Tuesday, but there it was, nestled between the roots of a tree, the Alan Wake Collector’s Edition.  Needless to say this was a major find.  We’ve been super-psyched about this game for a long, long time and and the recent live action prequel, Bright Falls has been blowing our minds.  So before I, with shaking hands, load the disk into my 360, let’s take stock of what my findings have uncovered.

Once you slip off the standard glossy game cover, underneath you’ve go a canvas-bound ominous looking book with silver text and graphics.  In thickness it’s almost as daunting as Garth Marenghi’s The Oeuvre, but I knew this book was more than meets the eye.

Opening the dummy book revealed a collection of two disc cases and one small book.  Once disc case was the game, without any retailer markings.  In addition to the instruction booklet there’s a token to download the first Alan Wake DLC, a new chapter called “The Signal”,  be released July 27th.  The other case had a sleeker presentation and contained two discs, the game’s soundtrack and a bonus disc playable on the 360.

The soundtrack is 10 tracks long featuring five tracks of score by Petri Alanko, and single tracks by The Black Angels, Anomie Belle, in-game band The Old Gods of Asgard, Dead Combo, and prolific musical fusion artist, Barry Adamson.  The bonus disc is filled to the brim with special features: three documentaries (“The Story of Remedy”, “The Making of Alan Wake”, and “The Making of a Thriller”), galleries of cinematics, screenshots and concepts, and characters, 10 Alan Wake trailers dating as far back as 2005, a “Marketplace” selection that offers free downloads of Alan Wake gamer pictures, and two 360 themes – Elderwood, and Bright Falls (click the links for photos), and finally – an unprecedented feature -  Developer’s Commentary that you can download from the bonus disc and enable as you play through the game – just like a DVD.  Downloading the Developer’s Commentary also scores you a limited edition avatar award.

But the true pièce de résistance of this set is the book-within-a-book within-a-game, The Alan Wake Files, by Clay Steward.  The book is 129 pages, is full color, has a dust jacket, and is bound in black canvas with a mysterious symbol in silver on the front.  It’s author is a man who suffered reoccurring dreams about author, Alan Wake and the town of Bright Falls.  He ventured into the town after the events in the game and could only find fragments of the true story of what happened thanks to his research and the tapes of a washed-up FBI Special Agent, Robert Nightingale.  Steward’s book is full of notes and photos from Nightingale’s files.  Also included are excerpts from some of Wake’s novels as well as the writing of other in-game entities.  The dust jacked is even decked out with a book synopsis, author’s bio, and a bunch of promotional quotes from “reputable” journals (see detail to the right).  I read a portion of the book and decided it was best to give it a rest before I dove in and experienced the real thing.

There was a bit of a surprise I stumbled across in The Alan Wake Files that I’ll make a point of sharing.  It’s no secret that Alan Wake is havily inspired by David Lynch and mark Frost’s landmark TV series Twin Peaks, heck that’s half of why I’m so excited abut this game.  But what I didn’t expect was such a direct reference in the cast of characters- Alan Wake has its own Log Lady!  The town of Bright Falls is home to more than a few eccentrics but one stands out as being more mysterious than most – they call her “Lady Diogenes” after the Greek philosopher who wandered Athens with a lamp, I call her the Lamp Lady – same character!

Of course, the Lamp Lady is a bit of a cheap shot as references go.  (EDIT: In the game they don’t call her “Lady Diogenes” at all, they do in fact call her “the Lamp Lady”.)  The real tribute to Twin Peaks is in how Alan Wake plays out its mood and supernatural horror.  It’s combat gaming aspects immediately turn it in a different direction from Peaks, but the quirky Pacific Northwest town and the fear of the dark woods seem quite intact with lots of room for originality.  Reviews for Wake have been glowing so far, look for my review in a forthcoming episode of Nerdy Show.

If you’re not excited for Alan Wake yet, don’t know much about the game, and are still wondering why you should care then allow me to direct your attention to this – Bright Falls, the six-part live action miniseries prequel to Alan Wake.  It’s an intense psycho-thriller that you must watch.  No one has made anything like this for a video game before.  All other live action forays into video game tie-ins are hereby trumped.  Watch it below on YouTube, download them on X-Box Live, or check out the Silverlight-enhanced versions over at the Bright Falls website.  Turn the light off, and get ready to be lost in Bright Falls:

I’ve pulled all the shades, really dug myself in, made the house as dark as I can. It’s weird, I can’t really stand to look at the light. It hurts. I’m so excited to play this game. So excited…

Perhaps you remember a month ago when I published my extremely NSFW review of Warioware D.I.Y. Since then I’ve continued to learn the ways of the game and master all of its skills and exhaustive but educational challenges so that my first microgame would be perfect.  I’m at long last proud to present you Nerdy Co.’s first microgame, PK Siege:

In PK Siege you battle Nintendo of America President, Reggie Fils Aime in the style of Earthbound’s fighting system.  The PSI ability, PK Pummel launches your fan love at Reggie (in the form of Mr. Saturns), and demands the release of Mother 3 in North America.  Of course, getting Mother 3 released in America is bit of a moot point these days.  We’ve all resigned that Mother 3 will never come out over here and the fan translation is amazing, so I for one am content.  This microgame pays homage to the astounding efforts of Starmen.net to raise awareness of the greatest RPG of all time and their exhaustive effort to make a statement to the Big N, in their many epic demonstrations of fan-power, such as the EB Siege.  Mine is not the first Earthbound-related microgame either, there are many great ones out there and no doubt more on the way.

I’ve sent this game to Nintendo for their Wario Award contest, so we’ll see what comes of that – . i.e. nothing ’cause the first volley of user-made micro games are in and some of them are mind-blowing.  Even if you don’t have a DS, get the WiiWare title D.I.Y. Showcase and check these out, seriously.

If you, dear internet person, have a kick-ass D.I.Y. game that you’d like to show off shoot us a comment, we’d love to see what your brains have cooked up.

I hadn’t had a chance to really make a dent in the latest Warioware title, Warioware D.I.Y., by the time we recorded this week’s episode.  The game requires a certain amount of prep-time to get the garlic cloves rolling, but I’ve had a few days with it now and things have gotten… interesting.

The core concept of Warioware D.I.Y. is making your very own Warioware-styled microgames from the ground up – sprites, music – everything.  D.I.Y. is in many ways a spiritual successor, perhaps even kissing cousin, to the long-neglected (and nearly 20 year-old!), Mario Paint.  In addition to making microgames you can also create your own full-length songs and manipulate them DJ style, draw your own comics, and in case you’re feeling lazy there’s 90+ microgames on board.

Making your own microgames is a full-blown time consuming and creative process.  Nintend- …I mean Dr. Crygor’s game-making system is very simple and easy to understand, but the creativity it allows for means that it’s going to take time and planning to get your game up and running.  What’s more you have to trudge through a mandatory tutorial in order to gain the ability to make your own games.  Suffice it to say Nerdy Co.’s debut title, PK Pummel in which you chuck Mr. Saturns at Reggie Fils-Aime until he agrees to release Mother 3, is still in the works.  (UPDATE: now finished) BUT there are some quick-fix D.I.Y. tasks you can fulfill for Wario to whet your creative appetite.

As a part of the game’s introduction Wario asks you to draw him a scary monster for a Dragon Warrior parody.  It was the first thing the game asked me to do, so of course I drew a dick.  I mean, I knew that somewhere along the way in this make-your-own-mayhem party things were going to get vulgar, so why not just get it out of my system, right?  But then, the next game he asked me to make was whack-a-mole-styled.  Whack-a-mole, I mean, really!  How could I not draw penises?  I know around Nerdy Show you’ve come to expect things to get vulgar, so this should come as no surprise.  But, we’d like for our vulgar side (I like to think “creatively vulgar”) to just be a component of the show, rather than the dominant factor.  It’d be nice if our (semi)intelligent science discussions didn’t seem out of place in a sea of expletives and dick jokes, but as you know and as you’ll see I don’t always end up being the straight-laced, sensible one.  Let us go on a journey… to a land of NSFW microgames.

Mostly NSFW beyond this point  …mostly

Wario and I have been up to some serious tomfoolery.  Yeah, not every game has a dick in it, but I’m gonna level with you- most of ‘em do.  On occasion I get my mind out of the gutter and come up with something clever and awesome, but much like Mad Libs Wario’s fill-in-the-blank microgame chores lend themselves well to explicit nonsense.  Sometimes I just can’t friggin’ help myself.

First up is the aforementioned Dragon Warrior parody and its sequel.  I like to call them Wiener Warrior and Wiener Warrior 2: Rage of the Triceracocks!

Pretty simple stuff.  Just tap the screen a few times and it’s over.  Therein lies one of the small problems with D.I.Y., the games are exclusively tap-based.  Unlike the previous DS cartridge Warioware title, Touched, the full range of the touch screen isn’t used.  You tap certain patterns, you tap certain areas, but you just tap.  No mics, no buttons, no sliding, no tracing – just tapping.  You also may have noticed the unusual coloring of the cocks I’ve drawn.  That’s because though the art software has a terrific amount of flexibility, it only renders graphics at a low-tier GBA level.  The flat color selection is as limited as Mario Paint. There’s no capacity to mix your own colors, choose opacity, or any of color-blending trickery that most basic art programs (even the latest MS Paint) have these days.  I’m fine with limited tools, it adds to the challenge, but I’m drawin’ a lot of sex organs here and there isn’t a proper pink at all!

Next up is Whack-n-Off, the dick pounding game.  Whose dicks are these coming out of the ground?  Is it , Monty Mole tormenting a farmer with his massive mole wood, or just Diglet dressed up for Halloween?  Either way Wario wants to beat down those stiffies with a mallet – bad news!

I knew that in order to preserve my personal integrity (sanity?  sexuality?) I had to break away from the dicks for a hot second, and for this game I made something just a bit adorable.  I came up with an idea for a game show recently called “Who Dat Cat?”  The premise is that there’s a panel of contestants and they’re shown a cat on screen.  They have to buzz in to try and name the pictured cat.  It could be eclectic choices like Danny John-Jules or Rum Tum Tugger, or maybe something more obvious like Garfield or our lord and savior, Ceiling Cat.  The microgame version of Who Dat Cat?, is a bit different.  It’s just a counting game and features the Nerdy Show in-house kitty crew Klarion and Teekl.

The next game is a redux of one of the more memorable original Warioware microgames, Crazy Car.  It’s really simple, something with wheels is coming at you, could be a car, could be a banana, but you’ve got to make Wario jump out of the way so he doesn’t get hit.  This version of the game only asked me to make one vehicle and I was back to my dick tricks again.  But why keep drawing the same ol’ dick?  There are different kinds of dicks in the world.  Ladies and gentlemen, Crazy Horse:

Wario asked me to make a face swapping game.  His eyes, nose and mouth would be mixed up with ones that I drew.  Somehow drawing accurate reproductions of Cage or Travolta seemed outside of my skill set, so I went with the next best thing: a horror show of mis-matched body parts.  Screaming mouths for eyes, a giant eye for a mouth, and a vagina for a nose.  After all, dicks aren’t the only sex organs in the world (they’re just the funniest).

In this game you’re a rocketship version of Wario’s nose  and you have to launch booger rags at UFOs.  Those Lil’ UFOs looked too easy so I upped the stakes.

Ah, the old snap shot game.  This was fun because it game me two variables for the action graphics.  9-Volt’s Nintendo fanaticism was strong with me, so I made a Pokémon Snap microgame featuring the ever-beloved Bidoof and the thunder-thighed ghost, Gengar.

Three non-sexual games down, but nothing controversial.  Well, we’ll see about that.  Eggstraction is a perfect game for inserting weirdness: you smash an egg and something pops out of it.  My first thought was to draw a huddled up, nude Salvador Dalí, but that seemed too high-brow to be included in this collection of miscreant minigames.  It did get me thinking though…  So far, I’m most proud of this one.

Card matching games are always a good time.  Should I replicate items from the Mushroom Kingdom for that Mario feel?  Nah, how ’bout the only collectible card game that’s worth a damn, Magic The Gathering:

In retrospect I wish I’d replicated another notable card instead of doing the back of a Magic card, like “Fireball” or something, but whatev’.  Next up is a game formerly called Farm Fresh, now called Corpse Harvest.  Based on a true story.

My gut reaction when making these graphics is to ask myself “how can I make this sexually explicit” and then ask, “how can I not“?  When I first pondered this ice fishing game my immediate notion was to make a dickfish like the one that pursued those lovable Stella boys Michael, Michael, and David and their skit of the same name.  But I held back.  I classed it up and took the Discovery Channel approach.  Did you know that dolphin’s have prehensile dicks, kids?  Well, now you do.

I’ve still got three more games to help Wario make before he lets me leave his basement.  (see below) This is the last one I’ve done so far and it was a real no-brainer.  It’s another distinctive game from the first Warioware – catching a sliding beer mug.  I could have left well enough alone and done something clever here, I could have.  Just click the image below and you’ll know it was worth it.

So on the whole how is Warioware D.I.Y.?  That’s a two-part answer. If you’re just here for the microgames it’s lackluster.  There are fewer games than normal and the tap-only controls make for a less-exciting game experience.  BUT the beauty of these simple games is that they were all made under the same limitations you yourself have.  In fact you can view the backdoor of these games and see how they’re all put together.  You can even borrow graphics and music from them.  The games have their entertainment value, but their real purpose is as examples for you to learn from for your own creations.  Of course one could argue “great, I get to make games, but I only get to make shitty tapping games”.  While this is true, there is a lot of room for clever programming and design work.  The creativity of the game is the real star, not necessarily the gameplay.  (And worse comes to worse you can always throw some dicks into the mix right?)

What’s really great about Warioware D.I.Y. is that your games aren’t trapped on your cartridge.  Gone are the days of building a sweet RPG on your PlayStation only to have it stuck on a memory card.  You can send your microgames, music, and comics to your friends DSes and even to the Wii.  With the WiiWare game, Warioware D.I.Y. Showcase you can download your microgames and play them on the big screen, plus it comes with 72 additional in-house microgames featuring the characters that were M.I.A. on the DS game.  Both D.I.Y. proper and the WiiWare title have access to the NinSoft store, where you can download additional microgames for free every week, including some made by big name game designers.  What’s more, there’s also themed competitions that give you the chance to have your game highlighted in the NinSoft Store.  Pretty damn cool.

We’d love to see what microgames you guys are making.  Comment, discuss, and post your microgames here, guys – so that all Nerdy Show types may share non-communicable mischief and mayhem amongst each other.  Now go… play.

UPDATE! 5/10

Finally finished PK Pummel, now called PK Siege, you can check that out HERE.

Also, for your chortling pleasure, here’s the last three microgames Wario had me do graphics for:

A kickboxing game I call Fuehrer Fighter. ‘Nuff said.

In this game you undress Wario, but his sprite looked kinda like everybody’s favorite elf, Tingle.  So I gave him the appropriate attire.  it’s not form-fitting enough though, he looks kinda hip-hop what with the clock and everything, but check out the bulge on that guy.

This thing wasn’t really a game.  They just asked me to write a secret down.  This isn’t much of a secret, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate end to this mayhem.

After completing Seifer’s biography on Tesla, I thought it would be a while before I finished another book to review. However, a mere 48 hours later, I find myself a book deeper into my repertoire after grinding through Michael Crichton’s 2006 bio-thriller, Next. Like any Crichton classic, Next is no lightweight, coming in just over 500 pages. The rate at which I devoured it is a testament to its intensity and the way it truly captivates the reader.

In the Crichton tradition, he creates a complex science-fiction story, not taking place in some far distant future, but today. Science-fiction, I argue, is the wrong genre to file Crichton under, as it leads the imagination to far off worlds, Flash Gordon, and alien marauders. In recent years, the phase “speculative fiction” has gained notoriety as contemporary science-fiction that utilizes actual science to justify story elements. In Next, the science under the microscope of scrutiny is genetics. While one of the characters would blend in well with Well’s The Island of Doctor Moreau, it’s not the science that Crichton condemns, but the corporate perversion of the scientific method from a pursuit for truth to a pursuit for profit.

Having finished my fourth Crichton novel, Prey, not too long ago, I felt I had a pretty good idea of how the story would flow, with a limited third person narrative that follows a primary character which occasionally hops to others, but with a definitive “main character.” This was not the case with Next, where there was really no distinct main character, with one main story, but over a dozen interconnecting stories each with a wealth of colorful, unique, and real characters. The very structure of the storytelling is a devise used to relate to the reader how interwoven the subject matter of modern genetics and its problems are today.

With a dozen stories, Crichton is able to take a grapeshot on contemporary genetics, from the patenting of genes, to transgenic experimentation, to the murky legal environment on genetics, to the now corporate role many educational institutions are taking on the topic. It all seems unbelievable. However, on a recent episode of NPR’s Science Friday a topic that would have eerily fit into Crichton’s pages was discussed: a legal patent battle very similar to the fictitious battle over the genetic cells of a specific person in Next. That harrowing coincident alone makes Crichton’s following warning all the more haunting:

Welcome to the our genetic world. Fast, furious, and out of control. This is not the world of the future – it’s the world right now.

Another element that I enjoyed was the scattering of excerpts of news articles throughout the book. While some were fictitious articles meant to reflect events in the book, others were based off of actual articles, adding to the authenticity of the cautionary tale. They sometimes acted to supplement subject matter touched by the story, while other times they were a foil which reflected the ridiculous manner in which the press twist information on science that they don’t fully understand.

Enjoying this novel doesn’t hinge on your educational background; in fact it assumes you have none. Vivid characters, compelling and thrilling stories, and subject matter that keeps you thinking on through to Crichton’s editorial “Author’s Notes” are all elements that make this book stand out amongst his impressive catalog. With his message more relevant today than it was four years ago, this is one story I highly recommend picking up.

More on Michael Crichton

Buy Next

This past Christmas, I was given a Barnes and Noble gift card and while perusing in my local branch for a book or two to consume, I wandered into the Science aisle, hoping for something to reintroduce myself to artificial intelligence or the like. With a two-tone bronze and black photo of a familiar scientist on the cover, the title Wizard enthralled me. Like the badge of honor it truly is, the book advertises on top that it’s “Highly Recommended by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.” I held in my hands Marc J. Seifer’s opus to the father of the Electrical Age and Wireless Technologies, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius. It was love at first site.

At a price of $19.95, it seemed almost fated to be as I presented my $20 gift card. Pawing the book on the way to the bus stop, I anxiously skimmed the pages of the foreward by William H. Terbo, Honorary Chairman of the Tesla Memorial Society and grandnephew to the sorcerer himself. Bubbling with excitement, I was glued to every word of the glowing praise from kin of Tesla. Seifer’s preface tells the personal story of discovering who Tesla was and his shock of his previous ignorance of the inventor and his extensive works. Then as ignorant as he was in 1976, I launched myself into the universe of Tesla.

Seifer painted a marvelously unbiased portrait of Nikola Tesla and the world that changed around him, often due to his own innovations. He showed Tesla for all of his brilliant insights and his self-destructive neuroses. In Wizard we walk with Tesla from his modest beginnings as the son of a priest in the Slavic lands of Eastern Europe, through his educational tour of the continent, to America, where his original AC Polyphase system was to revolution the modern world, bringing light to everyone everywhere. Seifer perfectly captures the reoccurring theme of the plight of the iconoclast, Tesla’s brilliance is fought for the first of many times by not only his legendary rival, Thomas Edison, but practically the entirety of the contemporary electric world. I was at the edge of my seat as I read the chronicles of the two-front war: on one hand an established, yet now obsolete, group that backed DC feared Tesla and fought to silence him; while others coveted his discoveries and strove to pirate them as their own; yet somehow Tesla persevered with those in his corner that both saw his brilliance and wished to celebrate it. This is the first of many trials detailed in this brilliant tome.

Seifer palpably sculpts many historical characters which entered the life of Tesla including George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, John Muir, J. Pierpont Morgan, and many many more. With an amazing treatise that follows the gaunt wizard from an old world to a new, you truly get an understanding of not just Tesla and the world around him, but how he directly changed it, and even a touch o fhow mankind truly responds to revolutionary innovation.

This book captivated my attention through its entire scope. It was, in my opinion, a true success as a biography and tribute to a scientific genius that isn’t given the attention and celebration he truly deserves. I can’t wait to read it again! I heartily recommend this book to everyone. If you’re a history nut, you’ll be fascinated at the scientific marvels that a single man could devise. If you’re a science geek, this book will give you a stronger appreciation of the impact of not only innovation on the world, but the impact of the world on innovation. If you’re a Tesla fanboy, this should be paramount for your library. If you’re not familiar with Nikola Tesla, inventor, discoverer, dreamer, Father of the Electric and Wireless Ages, the archetypal mad scientist, and the inspiration for thousands, than this book is for you.

More on Marc J. Seifer

Buy Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius