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The Smithsonian Institution
It's 1939, and a teenage math genius is mysteriously summoned to the Smithsonian Institution, where a crash program to develop the atomic bomb is being conducted in the basement. The boy turns out to hold the key to both the secrets of nuclear fission and breakthroughs in the time continuum. As he brainstorms with Robert Oppenheimer, he catches a glimpse of the coming war and becomes determined to ward off the cataclysm. In a race against time-and surrounded by figures from American history past and present, including Albert Einstein, Grover Cleveland, and Abraham Lincoln-he battles to save not just himself, but humanity. Gore Vidal has written some of the finest and most inventive novels in modern times. Readers of such bestsellers as Burr, Lincoln, Duluth, and 1876 will revel in this, his latest foray into the American scene. A brilliant and vividly imaginative tale about some of the key events of the twentieth century, The Smithsonian Institution is a dramatic masterwork of comedy and allusion.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
12 people are currently reading
483 people want to read
About the author
Gore Vidal
422 books1,866 followersWorks of American writer Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, noted for his cynical humor and his numerous accounts of society in decline, include the play
The Best Man
(1960) and the novel
Myra Breckinridge
(1968) .
People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.
Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.
They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.
At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde
Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).
Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).
Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.
Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.
Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.
People know his essays, screenplays, and Broadway.
They also knew his patrician manner, transatlantic accent, and witty aphorisms. Vidal came from a distinguished political lineage; his grandfather was the senator Thomas Gore, and he later became a relation (through marriage) to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vidal, a longtime political critic, ran twice for political office. He was a lifelong isolationist Democrat. The Nation, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, The New York Review of Books, and Esquire published his essays.
Essays and media appearances long criticized foreign policy. In addition, he from the 1980s onwards characterized the United States as a decaying empire. Additionally, he was known for his well publicized spats with such figures as Norman Mailer, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Truman Capote.
They fell into distinct social and historical camps. Alongside his social, his best known historical include Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as the first major feature of unambiguous homosexuality.
At the time of his death he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he referred to himself as a "gentleman bitch" and has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde
Also used the pseudonym Edgar Box.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Gore Vidal é um dos nomes centrais na história da literatura americana pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Nascido em 1925, em Nova Iorque, estudou na Academia de Phillips Exeter (Estado de New Hampshire). O seu primeiro romance, Williwaw (1946), era uma história da guerra claramente influenciada pelo estilo de Hemingway. Embora grande parte da sua obra tenha a ver com o século XX americano, Vidal debruçou-se várias vezes sobre épocas recuadas, como, por exemplo, em A Search for the King (1950), Juliano (1964) e Creation (1981).
Entre os seus temas de eleição está o mundo do cinema e, mais concretamente, os bastidores de Hollywood, que ele desmonta de forma satírica e implacável em títulos como Myra Breckinridge (1968), Myron (1975) e Duluth (1983).
Senhor de um estilo exuberante, multifacetado e sempre surpreendente, publicou, em 1995, a autobiografia Palimpsest: A Memoir. As obras 'O Instituto Smithsonian' e 'A Idade do Ouro' encontram-se traduzidas em português.
Neto do senador Thomas Gore, enteado do padrasto de Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, primo distante de Al Gore, Gore Vidal sempre se revelou um espelho crítico das grandezas e misérias dos EUA.
Faleceu a 31 de julho de 2012, aos 86 anos, na sua casa em Hollywood, vítima de pneumonia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 25, 2020
It is a novel that, at heart, is a metaphor and a criticism of the atomic bomb.
A 13-year-old boy is a genius in quantum physics who discovered an equation capable of altering the time-space dimension in which he himself could see himself as a dead man from World War II.
Attending St. Albans High School, he entered the Institute on a Good Friday. If the experiment proceeded as his equation enabled, he would leave that same day, after changing history by going back in time and changing the future.
Preventing the occurrence of the two major world conflicts was the intention to continue, which would imply avoiding Hitler's own existence and depriving most of the United States of America's presidents. Especially with the respective first ladies, some of whom were of decisive importance to him.
A 13-year-old boy is a genius in quantum physics who discovered an equation capable of altering the time-space dimension in which he himself could see himself as a dead man from World War II.
Attending St. Albans High School, he entered the Institute on a Good Friday. If the experiment proceeded as his equation enabled, he would leave that same day, after changing history by going back in time and changing the future.
Preventing the occurrence of the two major world conflicts was the intention to continue, which would imply avoiding Hitler's own existence and depriving most of the United States of America's presidents. Especially with the respective first ladies, some of whom were of decisive importance to him.
December 7, 2013
Gore’s little secrets are his “inventions,” i.e. his surreal time- and gender-bending comedies such as Duluth, Myron and Kalki. This was the last book in that mould before he settled down in his old age to write a dozen fulminating tracts against the Bush administration. Centring around a teenage protagonist T. (time), taking place in the titular, the novel is a time-travel romp interlarded with dubious material on string and relativity theory, touching upon all kinds of pivotal moments in US history (mainly the Manhattan Project and its aftermath) with Gore’s usual sharp tongue and eye for the truth beneath the Official Versions. Plot-wise the novel is bollocks and only sporadically engaging. The prose itself is lean and the dialogue excessive—the reader can become bored leaping from one samey historical voice to another—but the pleasure here is Gore’s mind riffing on the scientific concepts and melding a range of his familiar topics into a SF-ish and fantastical form. For fans of his “inventions” only—starters consult the italicised titles above.
March 24, 2009
As a former Smithsonian employee and someone who still works in a museum, I really enjoyed this novel. Night at The Museum would make exhibits coming to life a popular movie theme, but Vidal does it with a cerebral twist that will make any museum nut giggle with glee.
May 31, 2013
Writing this review in response to some of the garbage I see posted on this site maligning a fantastic writer...anybody who mentions "Night At the Museum" in the same breath as this book does not even deserve to have their review read or taken seriously. Ben Stiller? Please.
Yet another of Mr. Vidal's delightful masterpieces of wit and satire. Perhaps the humor was too subtle for most readers; I, however, will read whatever this man wrote for pure enjoyment of the English language.
Yet another of Mr. Vidal's delightful masterpieces of wit and satire. Perhaps the humor was too subtle for most readers; I, however, will read whatever this man wrote for pure enjoyment of the English language.
August 13, 2018
I read up to the 2nd chapter and gave up. Am I missing something or is the Portuguese translation that bad? I dunno.
The story stars a horny and arrogant 13yo boy who loves baseball and has this god-given ability to see formulas in his mind in a way that allows him to know the reaction’s results. Set in 1939 USA in what I assumed was the real world, with all the bizarre happenings occurring only inside the Institute.
But then the book mentions the streets of 1939 to be filled with electric cars along with people, “native afro-american” people, and correlates the usage of an apron to being a scientist. All of this either outside of the institute or from the point of view of the MC, who is an outsider. This is clearly not our 1939 yet the book then points me towards it being OUR 1939 later on. I hope this confusion originated from a bad translation and is not the work of the original author.
The premise of the superpower to see the results of formulas in his mind is not a bad one, if I was given any reason to believe the author knew anything about physics. These parts of the story had a *very wide* physics-related vocabulary consisting of “E=mc^2”, “formulas”, and “equations”. I can only read so many different combinations of these 3 words before my belief that these characters understand the subject is completely shattered.
Lastly, and this was mostly personal opinion: I really disliked the MC. On the 1st chapter this 13yo kid has sex with some ~20yo woman and he’s constantly thinking about fucking her again afterwards, constantly interrupting scenes with such thoughts. I’m not here to have a speech on how they want to make some magic bomb that only kills people but keeps buildings intact interrupted by the kid taking a sip of his coke and thinking of how the bottle looks like that woman and how horny he is. If the paedophilia wasn’t cringy enough for me, there’s always the use of euphemisms like “mountain oysters” by not only the characters, but the narrator as well.
The story stars a horny and arrogant 13yo boy who loves baseball and has this god-given ability to see formulas in his mind in a way that allows him to know the reaction’s results. Set in 1939 USA in what I assumed was the real world, with all the bizarre happenings occurring only inside the Institute.
But then the book mentions the streets of 1939 to be filled with electric cars along with people, “native afro-american” people, and correlates the usage of an apron to being a scientist. All of this either outside of the institute or from the point of view of the MC, who is an outsider. This is clearly not our 1939 yet the book then points me towards it being OUR 1939 later on. I hope this confusion originated from a bad translation and is not the work of the original author.
The premise of the superpower to see the results of formulas in his mind is not a bad one, if I was given any reason to believe the author knew anything about physics. These parts of the story had a *very wide* physics-related vocabulary consisting of “E=mc^2”, “formulas”, and “equations”. I can only read so many different combinations of these 3 words before my belief that these characters understand the subject is completely shattered.
Lastly, and this was mostly personal opinion: I really disliked the MC. On the 1st chapter this 13yo kid has sex with some ~20yo woman and he’s constantly thinking about fucking her again afterwards, constantly interrupting scenes with such thoughts. I’m not here to have a speech on how they want to make some magic bomb that only kills people but keeps buildings intact interrupted by the kid taking a sip of his coke and thinking of how the bottle looks like that woman and how horny he is. If the paedophilia wasn’t cringy enough for me, there’s always the use of euphemisms like “mountain oysters” by not only the characters, but the narrator as well.
December 17, 2018
I had issues when trying to select the edition of Vidal’s book that I had, so I inadvertently chose two. This is the one I had and, yes, the cover made me think something was awry. But no-o-o-o—-
If the intellectual, ultimate Washington, D.C. insider Vidal had had the ghostly opportunity to sit down with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, when planning this book in the late 1990s, they could have created the hero, T. He’s boy scientist Tom Swift/U.S.S. Enterprise Capt. James T. Kirk.
That’s all I’ll tell you. If by some wayward chance you’ve gotten your hands on this book, don’t give up on it. It’s prescient for today and rich with Vidal’s sardonic, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humor and his outstanding grasp on American history.
If the intellectual, ultimate Washington, D.C. insider Vidal had had the ghostly opportunity to sit down with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, when planning this book in the late 1990s, they could have created the hero, T. He’s boy scientist Tom Swift/U.S.S. Enterprise Capt. James T. Kirk.
That’s all I’ll tell you. If by some wayward chance you’ve gotten your hands on this book, don’t give up on it. It’s prescient for today and rich with Vidal’s sardonic, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humor and his outstanding grasp on American history.
March 2, 2013
Even brilliant people can have very bad days. This book is a dog's breakfast. There are really clever lumps of historical carrot in the vomit. I cringed when he tried to explain string theory and got it so wrong it was face palm silly. Surely such a well connected man could find a scientist to proof read his book. Mostly the tone was a bit off - not quite science fiction, not quite satire, not quite fable. Might have worked as a south park script or a stoner movie like Bill and Ted's excellent adventure. I struggled to finish this one.
November 22, 2022
It's like a fever dream for a history geek that wishes time travel was real
July 7, 2020
I have to preface this by saying I initially hated the cover of this book, but now that I’ve finished it, I find it’s actually pretty clever. Anyway… This is undoubtedly one of the strangest, most original novels I’ve ever read. Our main character is 13-year-old T., who is summoned to the Smithsonian because of an equation he “doodled” on his algebra exam. Apparently, he is a mathematical genius and he is to assist Oppenheimer contain the chain reactions of atom-splitting. Oh, did I mention that during off-hours at the museum, all of the exhibits come to life (sound familiar)? T. rubs elbows with presidents and their wives (and gets very naughty with Mrs. Cleveland), in the hours he’s not exploring relativity.
As his research expands, he realizes he can change the course of history and avoid two world wars. The outcome of his time meddling is mind-boggling. This goofy, smart, time-warping novel was challenging (very physics-heavy), but entertaining. I liked how Vidal incorporated historical figures and the surrealism of the Institution itself. But the grand scheme of the plot often had me utterly befuddled.
As his research expands, he realizes he can change the course of history and avoid two world wars. The outcome of his time meddling is mind-boggling. This goofy, smart, time-warping novel was challenging (very physics-heavy), but entertaining. I liked how Vidal incorporated historical figures and the surrealism of the Institution itself. But the grand scheme of the plot often had me utterly befuddled.
December 28, 2016
"This is a very lazy book. He reuses characters from other novels. He reuses plot devices.
I don't know how this is notable except that it sucks. The whole thing is so tossed off and so casual. It's worse than his other efforts in this area because those at least felt considered.
This feels like he walked into the Smithsonian and wrote a book in a couple days, just for the hell of it.
If it was good, that would be extremely impressive.
There are times, when I am trying to consider this as more than po-mo junk, that I think there is some secret critique of theoretical physics underlying all of this, and maybe it actually means something. But I couldn't find enough evidence, or enough consistency so I think this was probably written just to meet a publisher's demand for another novel.
The worst (fiction) work of his that I have read, by far."
I don't know how this is notable except that it sucks. The whole thing is so tossed off and so casual. It's worse than his other efforts in this area because those at least felt considered.
This feels like he walked into the Smithsonian and wrote a book in a couple days, just for the hell of it.
If it was good, that would be extremely impressive.
There are times, when I am trying to consider this as more than po-mo junk, that I think there is some secret critique of theoretical physics underlying all of this, and maybe it actually means something. But I couldn't find enough evidence, or enough consistency so I think this was probably written just to meet a publisher's demand for another novel.
The worst (fiction) work of his that I have read, by far."
January 2, 2018
My first (and most probably last) Gore Vidal book.
Didn't like it at all.
It may be more interesting to an American, since it "touches" many historical US icons, but to me it felt totally flat.
I can say it's the book I least enjoyed reading in a decade.
Didn't like it at all.
It may be more interesting to an American, since it "touches" many historical US icons, but to me it felt totally flat.
I can say it's the book I least enjoyed reading in a decade.
August 14, 2018
This is maybe a 2.5? Anyway I saw this at a library book sale and bought it thinking the cover didn't seem to match the description at all. And then one of this year's Read Harder tasks is to read a book with a cover you hate and this Fit. The. Bill.
I'm a sucker for anything time-travel and this book gets pretty timey wimey. My biggest problem was with the datedness of some of the language and the... maleness of the narrator. I mean, he was a teenage boy so fine but it just got a little old. There were also times when I wasn't sure if the terms being used were because the characters in the 1940s would have spoken that day or if Gore Vidal just dind't know you can't use the word squaw.
I'm a sucker for anything time-travel and this book gets pretty timey wimey. My biggest problem was with the datedness of some of the language and the... maleness of the narrator. I mean, he was a teenage boy so fine but it just got a little old. There were also times when I wasn't sure if the terms being used were because the characters in the 1940s would have spoken that day or if Gore Vidal just dind't know you can't use the word squaw.
December 6, 2023
I bought this first edition for 2 euros in a little used bookstore in Athens, Greece, and read it on the flight back to NJ and then train back to DC. I've only read his historical fiction, so I was unprepared for this outrageous tale. A young prep school math prodigy in DC is recruited to the Smithsonian to help with the Manhattan Project and embarks on an affair with one of the former First Ladies in the collection that comes to life at night, as do many other displays in the Natural History musuem. There's also some crazy time travel and other things I cannot begin to explain. I feel quite confident whoever wrote the movie script "A Night At the Musuem" owes Vidal some creative attributions.
March 21, 2014
Gore Vidal é um escritor do qual já li obras muito interessantes, principalmente os livros que escreveu sobre História: "Juliano" e sobretudo "Criação"; também admiro os diversos livros sobre a actualidade política norte americana, desde os finais do século XVIII até meadod do século XX.
É um autor que escreve com grande conhecimento de causa, mostrando trabalho árduo de pesquisa e um excelente toque de escrita.
É no entanto uma pessoa com um estilo de vida que manteve até à sua recente morte, algo "convencido", direi mesmo com pitadas de petulância, embora sempre camufladas com o espirito como descreve certas personagens e situações. Isso verifica-se nos seus livros, a meu ver, mais "frívolos" - "Duluth", "Myra Breckindrige" e "Myron".
Este seu convencimento, talvez melhor dizendo presunção estão bem patentes na obra queacabei de ler "O Instituto Sminthsonian". é um livro muito complexo, de difícil leitura, onde Vidal pretende mexer muitos cordelinhos ao mesmo tempo, mostrando-nos uma teia de situações que misturam a ciência com a sua apreciada motivação política, mormente das figuras presidenciais americanas.
Pode ser para muito boa gente um excelente romance esta amálgama em que se misturam diversas personalidades e até se alteram certas verdades históricas naquilo que penso ser um processo com que o autor não deixou de se divertir...
Mas para mim, foi-me penoso acabar o livro, poucas vezes me entusiasmou de forma a prosseguir a leitura e achei, sem qualquer dúvida o livro de Gore Vidal menos conseguido.
Tudo isto não invalida a ideia geral que tenho de que é um dos mais importantes escritores americanos do século XX e tenho empenho em ler mais um ou dois livros que ainda tenho em lista de espera, da sua autoria.
É um autor que escreve com grande conhecimento de causa, mostrando trabalho árduo de pesquisa e um excelente toque de escrita.
É no entanto uma pessoa com um estilo de vida que manteve até à sua recente morte, algo "convencido", direi mesmo com pitadas de petulância, embora sempre camufladas com o espirito como descreve certas personagens e situações. Isso verifica-se nos seus livros, a meu ver, mais "frívolos" - "Duluth", "Myra Breckindrige" e "Myron".
Este seu convencimento, talvez melhor dizendo presunção estão bem patentes na obra queacabei de ler "O Instituto Sminthsonian". é um livro muito complexo, de difícil leitura, onde Vidal pretende mexer muitos cordelinhos ao mesmo tempo, mostrando-nos uma teia de situações que misturam a ciência com a sua apreciada motivação política, mormente das figuras presidenciais americanas.
Pode ser para muito boa gente um excelente romance esta amálgama em que se misturam diversas personalidades e até se alteram certas verdades históricas naquilo que penso ser um processo com que o autor não deixou de se divertir...
Mas para mim, foi-me penoso acabar o livro, poucas vezes me entusiasmou de forma a prosseguir a leitura e achei, sem qualquer dúvida o livro de Gore Vidal menos conseguido.
Tudo isto não invalida a ideia geral que tenho de que é um dos mais importantes escritores americanos do século XX e tenho empenho em ler mais um ou dois livros que ainda tenho em lista de espera, da sua autoria.
April 14, 2012
this is another second read as I go through my Gore Vidal home collection. I read The Smithsonian Institution quite a few years ago ,and liked it, but wasn't sure what to make of it. For some reason I read it as straight science fiction with a hardon for Woodrow Wilson,, which of course, is a huge mistake. It's a great piece of political satire and old beltway insiderism. I think Henry Adams might approve. I"m sure some readers wouldn't approve, however, of 13 year old T's relationship with Squaw (Frank Cleveland), but hey.... BTW, this time around I love Grover Cleveland's rather historic role. He's one of my favorite presidents; maybe the last decent president we had. As usual ,the historical portraits are so telling. Not your standard American history read for sure--but I believe much more accurate than the official story crap that's fed in the schools until you get to college (at least) and more likely grad school.
The only caveat I have is that I still find some of the book a little confusing. It's probably not GV's fault. I know nothing about the theory of relativity and string theory and other scientificisms in the book. I decided not to fear and just took them as they came, since I"m more interested in politics than the science of time travel.I did spot some of Adam's dynamo.
The only caveat I have is that I still find some of the book a little confusing. It's probably not GV's fault. I know nothing about the theory of relativity and string theory and other scientificisms in the book. I decided not to fear and just took them as they came, since I"m more interested in politics than the science of time travel.I did spot some of Adam's dynamo.
September 9, 2009
A rather boringly written book, commendable only in the bad sex writing awards category for the poorly written love-making scenes between two teenagers (although, maybe they are accurately written given the quality of most teenage love-making). The book follows a metaphysical (feigning hard science relevance) consideration of an alternative history in which a young man is mysteriously imbued with mathematical brilliance, without education or instruction, that allows him to change courses of events surrounding the two World Wars. This all takes place within the hallowed halls of a fictionalized version of The Smithsonian Institution within which the scientists are miracle workers capable of keeping alive dead Presidents and other members of the historical past... except during the daytime when they become the dummies of the exhibits. I've heard the book provided the inspiration for the recent atrocious work of Ben Stiller, but I don't know if there is merit to the claim or not. What I do know is that Vidal's attempt at science fiction, romance, and an alternative history left me only interested enough to read this book to put me to sleep at night.
March 7, 2016
I tend to like authors that have a great deal of information about their own selves available and Vidal most definitely fits that to a tee. Having said that I think it clouds my vision a bit when it comes to their novels because I always tend to be looking for something "secret" in regards to them that I feel a one off reader would never see. This novel happens to fit this sort of thing exactly: I don't really think people who don't like Gore Vidal already would like this book because it does tend to fall out at certain spots. I'm not entirely sure I would have saw anything in it has another's name been on the cover, but since I knew it was Vidal I was able to get sucked in. I actually think this happens with a great deal of novels and all media more than we think though... We fight through parts that we would condemn another person for but forgive our "loved ones" for. I suppose what we have to remember is that there is a reason they became our loved ones at some other previous point in time. Also when it comes to Vidal half the fun is when you realize just how many masks this old timer had in his pocket...
books-i-had-to-give-up-on
April 6, 2009From the first page, I found myself disliking this book, but I soldiered on, and skimmed to about page 75 before giving myself permission to move on and try to get rid of this book as soon as possible on Paperbackswap. I suppose the premise, that the Smithsonian comes to life when visitors are not there, could be interesting. I didn't really believe others reviews that it was like Night at the Museum, but it really is quite like that movie. I couldn't really stomach the 13 yr old boy having sex and trying to figure out how to have more all the time. Really that was too much.
May 9, 2011
I like Gore Vidal's essays, but this is the first of his novels that I've read. The premise appealed to me, but the book is really tedious and pretty unreadable; I quit after 60 pages. Just couldn't stand it. I'll try another of his novels, since this is apparently not one of his most well-received.
December 4, 2012
This is one of the worst books I have read. Gore must of been on drugs, when he wrote this?
I get his attempt to comment on history but he rambles around a weak plot. At times I was lost trying to figure out what he was talking about or where he was going.
Don't waste your time with this book. If you want to read Gore, there are many great ones, starting with LIncoln and Burr.
I get his attempt to comment on history but he rambles around a weak plot. At times I was lost trying to figure out what he was talking about or where he was going.
Don't waste your time with this book. If you want to read Gore, there are many great ones, starting with LIncoln and Burr.
May 28, 2024
This is the first Gore Vidal title I've read and I'm of the impression that it may have been a bad choice... the plot is okay but its something like a teenage adventure tale...
I'll still give Vidal another try though...
I'll still give Vidal another try though...
August 30, 2016
I'm not sure if this book really sucked or if I was just cranky. Either way, this book really sucked.
June 13, 2016
Night at the Museum movies ripped off this idea from Vidal.
November 29, 2024
Owad’s Micro-Review #144
It’s 1939. Europe is heading toward war, and America is rushing to develop a nuclear bomb. Enter young T., a math genius who sees limitations in Einstein’s E=mc2 equation. T. has the mental capacity to develop all sorts of nukes—and to throw in time travel and trips through a colorful multiverse in the bargain. This earns him a summoning to the venerable Smithsonian, where the exhibits come to life after hours and T. crosses paths with everyone from Grover Cleveland to Native Americans who dub him “Veal” and want to eat him.
This is an amusing and engaging story, but it’s purely intellectual. The plot exists as a framework for Vidal to muse on all things American. If you’re not versed in, say, lesser-known U.S. presidents and K Street politics, the humor might fall flat. This is Night at the Museum for history nerds—fun and intelligent, but at times dry and a little arcane.
It’s 1939. Europe is heading toward war, and America is rushing to develop a nuclear bomb. Enter young T., a math genius who sees limitations in Einstein’s E=mc2 equation. T. has the mental capacity to develop all sorts of nukes—and to throw in time travel and trips through a colorful multiverse in the bargain. This earns him a summoning to the venerable Smithsonian, where the exhibits come to life after hours and T. crosses paths with everyone from Grover Cleveland to Native Americans who dub him “Veal” and want to eat him.
This is an amusing and engaging story, but it’s purely intellectual. The plot exists as a framework for Vidal to muse on all things American. If you’re not versed in, say, lesser-known U.S. presidents and K Street politics, the humor might fall flat. This is Night at the Museum for history nerds—fun and intelligent, but at times dry and a little arcane.
July 23, 2024
TL:DR
I made it about 60 pgs. in and just gave up.
Don't know what I am missing but I just found it boring.
I was reading a spate of GV books all of which I liked.
I was also playing a lot of video games at the time so I understand part of what was going on with the multiple versions of the main charactor.
But I just was bored and didn't find the humour funny. I thought GV's other books were hilarious but this one.....
Maybe I'll try it again one day but fir now, I am passing on this one.
I made it about 60 pgs. in and just gave up.
Don't know what I am missing but I just found it boring.
I was reading a spate of GV books all of which I liked.
I was also playing a lot of video games at the time so I understand part of what was going on with the multiple versions of the main charactor.
But I just was bored and didn't find the humour funny. I thought GV's other books were hilarious but this one.....
Maybe I'll try it again one day but fir now, I am passing on this one.
February 6, 2023
T. a math prodigy is invited to the Smithsonian Institute to help the U.S. nuclear program in 1939. After hours the exhibits come to life. T. focuses his research on time travel and tries to prevent the oncoming war. This causes some other problems. A weird little novel. Vidal comments and satirizes certain parts of American History. It was interesting but not as good as some other satires I have read. I would recommend Vidal's Lincoln and his collection of essays instead.
July 27, 2019
When T gets a summons to go to the Smithsonian after hours, he embarks on an adventure in time travel. I was looking forward to reading about history and the venerable museum. However, it was more about T's awakening and I found it a bit creepy and not in a fun scary way, More in a ewww way. Still, it was well written and if you liked Catcher in the Rye you might like it more than I did.
July 20, 2024
In 1939, and a teenage math genius is mysteriously called to the Smithsonian Institution. There a crash program to develop the atomic bomb is being conducted. The boy holds the key to both the secrets of nuclear fission and breakthroughs in the time continuum. Brainstorming with Robert Oppenheimer, he catches a glimpse of the coming war and races against time to prevent disaster.
October 27, 2025
A fun and interesting read. Masterfully imaginative and witty. Part science fiction part historical fiction part just creatively fun. Vidal plays with the ideas of quantum physics and wraps them in historical anecdotes of American Presidents up to FDR. And I learned some new things about both areas along the way.
October 30, 2025
He plegat a la plana 105. No he aconseguit enganxar-me a aquest llibre. A banda del llenguatge farragós i incomprensible, tot i que tinc formació en ciència, hi ha una trama erràtica que no he entès cap a on em porta. Les divagacions del protagonista per la Smithsonian no em captiven gens. Així que plego i el deixo.
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