What people are saying about Geeks & Greeks
While pranks form the backbone of the story, Geeks & Greeks is more than just a prank-fest. The story has heart. But don't take my word for it. Read the reviews.
Advance praise:
"A gonzo-brilliant visual feast that reads like a blizzard of engrossing frenetic activity, offering an ethnographic deep-dive into MIT hacking and hazing subcultures. Geeks & Greeks combines the high-brow intelligence of Good Will Hunting with the rowdy frat antics of Animal House and the heart of Dead Poets Society. There is barely a moment to breathe as this roller coaster careens through the worlds of high-tech hazing, devilishly original pranks, and swaggering intellectual one-upmanship. Fish's masterful illustrations leap off the page with their inspired perspectives and vibrant colors."
–Jon B. Cooke
editor, Comic Book Artist magazine
"As someone who’s been walking MIT’s hallways for the past 20 years, I can attest that Steve Altes has tuned into the Institute’s quirky frequency, the raucous and rigorous spirit of the place. Altes speaks geek so fluently you’d mistake him for a jaded postdoc. Read Geeks & Greeks for its hot fusion of wit, narrative, and imagery. Awesomeness to the nth degree."
–Karl Iagnemma
MIT research scientist and author of On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction
"Mind-scorchingly mirthful! Who knew that the diabolically creative pranksters of MIT, those gestating geniuses of physics and engineering, could make the earth shake – with fear, laughter, and lust – when they put their 'big fat throbbing brains' to it? At last, the raw, kinky, wig-walloping wonder of these iconic hacks is revealed in a graphic novel so amped, so combustive, it'll fry your cranial circuits like a solar storm."
–Arthur Plotnik
author of The Elements of Expression: Putting Thoughts into Words
​
​"Andy Fish's meticulously faithful illustrations and Steve Altes's disarming humor bring to life a more fact than fiction (I fully attest) adventure."
–Lewis Pinault
MIT alum and author of Consulting Demons: Inside the Unscrupulous World of Global Corporate Consulting
"To quote Einstein, 'Imagination is more important than knowledge.' This book has both in spades. It has it all the geekworthy one-liners, Easter eggs, and knowledge bombs you'd expect, plus tons of humor, a bit of romance, plenty of heart, and dazzling illustrations."
–Mel Elliot
host of the Geekly Podcast
"Geeks & Greeks was a blast to read – it took liberties in all the right places and fused geek culture, MIT, and the magic of a hack / prank gone right perfectly. Any true geek (or nerd, yes there's a difference!) will love this graphic novel."
–Charles Wachter
executive producer, King of the Nerds
"Geeks & Greeks is a crackling insider look into the world of MIT fraternities. If you've ever wanted to peek behind the doors where young geniuses hack and haze, let whip-smart Steve Altes be your guide."
–Dottie Zicklin
MIT alum and co-creator of Dharma & Greg and Caroline in the City
"In his ample and interesting notes to Geeks & Greeks Steve Altes lists four rules of hacking: (1) be witty and finesseful, (2) make it hard to bring off, (3) hurt neither people nor property, (4) don’t get caught. The first three are a perfect description of the work itself. Everything from the story line to the artwork to the coloration reflects the heartbeat of MIT: excellence. Just as everything in Geeks reflects the great affection its makers have for that astonishing institution. In short the Geeks team has accomplished something that is, indeed, witty, and hard to bring off. They have hacked the hack."
–Samuel Jay Keyser
MIT professor emeritus and author of Mens et Mania: The MIT Nobody Knows
"At its heart Geeks & Greeks is a love story, between Jim and Natalie sure, but also between Jim and his fellow students with MIT. How we loved to hate MIT, how terrifying some classes were, how much a real family our living group became. Geeks & Greeks brings it all back!"
–Ollie Smoot
MIT alum and unit of measurement namesake
​
"A graphic novel replete with action sequences might seem an odd medium for a tale about one of the brainiest places on Earth, but after a few pages I was hooked. With Geeks & Greeks Altes and Fish have achieved something remarkable – they have captured the energy and quirkiness that are the hallmarks of MIT. MIT is a place where dreams are writ large and played out in vibrant Technicolor (itself an MIT invention). This is where the best minds come to solve difficult challenges and save the world. MIT has always been the stomping ground of dreamers and doers, as captured in our motto, mens et manus (mind and hand). Stroll the Infinite Corridor and you will hear a thousand conversations tackling society's thorniest problems. Dreamers are at work here, pulling solutions out of the ether before our eyes. In the guise of nerds, superheroes tread these halls. Not only do Altes and Fish take us into the magic that pulses through the 'Tute, they address the consequences of actions and misdeeds that are an integral part of college life. Intelligence, creativity, moral dilemmas – it all happens at this incredible nexus where much of the world as we know it today was conceived. If those are not the doings of action heroes, I do not know what is. And Altes and Fish have portrayed this with a rollicking sense of humor. One of Geeks' most valuable contributions is to shine a spotlight on a quality not often associated with engineering. Memo to the world: MIT is a place with a profound and deeply intelligent sense of humor. Unless you're performing pediatric neurosurgery, stop whatever you're doing and read this book."
–Louis Alexander
Director of Alumni Education, MIT (retired)
​
"Geeks & Greeks is a witty and visually-dynamic exposé of MIT's geeky underbelly, proving that nerds armed with a 12-sided die can wreak havoc and fun. This will inspire the merry prankster in us all."
–Ethan Gilsdorf
journalist, critic, nerd, and author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks
​
Read the reviews at Amazon.​
