Mind Afire: The Visions of Nikola Tesla Review

Mind Afire: The Visions of Nikola Tesla is graphic novel written by Abigail Samoun and illustrated by Elizabeth Haide. This graphic novel is a semi fictitious biography about the famous scientist Nikola Tesla. While this book was not bought in an independent or used bookstore it was bought from Kickstarter, which is just about as independent as it comes.

The illustrations are so beautifully done. They aid in the understanding of the story and help you further understand the story, just as illustration in a graphic novel should. The text itself is sometimes hard to read, for me at least, so the illustrations truly made the book for me. The text content was intelligently written and did a great job following the life of Nikola Tesla, particularly with the many relationships, not just romantic, that Tesla had. The writing was just as impressive as the illustrations.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys interesting biographies, with some liberties of course, and wonderful illustrations that make this book so special.  I look forward to seeing what Abigail Samoun and Elizabeth Haide have in story for us next!

You can purchase the book here http://www.nikolateslagraphicnovel.com/

Happy Reading,
Ian

Pro Libris Review

It was Pro Libris Bookshop in which we decided on a crucial criteria for being a successful independent bookstore: an anthologies section. Inside this deceivingly small store front was an immense amount of books, including an entire section of Science Fiction Anthologies where we spent most of our time. Because we were in Maine, and two streets down from Stephen King's house, they also had a huge collection of his books. A large portion of them were displayed in a standing coffin (a prop from the Grave Shivers movie). When we were checking out he told us the story of the fire over 20 years ago which destroyed all of his inventory. In fact one book we bought, Jem by Frederik Pohl, was part of his inventory directly after the fire . The store was filled with all sorts of interesting finds. This was by far our favorite bookstore that we visited on our trip. If you are ever close to Bangor, you must visit Pro Libris (and Bagel Central).

Books we bought at Pro Libris:

• Two Complete Novels (in one) Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
• The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide: Six Stories by Douglas Adams
• Jem by Frederik Pohl
• Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
• 28 science fiction stories by H.G Wells
• And Walk Now Gently Through the Fire edited by Roger Elwood

Store Information:

10 3rd St

Bangor, ME

Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00am - 6:00pm

Happy reading!
Ian and Connor

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Books and Loud Noises*: a blog reviewing all of the independent book stores that we as a couple travel to, and the books we find in them! We can’t wait to get started sharing our love of reading with you!

*A note about the name: “books and loud noises” is a quote from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Here is the full quote:

“Books and loud noises, flowers and electric shocks — already in the infant mind these couples were compromisingly linked; and after two hundred repetitions of the same or a similar lesson would be wedded indissolubly. What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder.”