Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This is a dystopian novel set in the year 2044.  You could also call it a quest novel, a coming of age novel, or near future science fiction.  It melds many different themes into a unique, funny, and exciting story.  The one common theme that seems to unite all of it is geek culture, video games, and the 1980s.

Wade Watts the main character, is a geeky kid who spends most of his time in the virtual world of OASIS.  Virtual reality in this setting is extremely realistic.  Wade Watts even goes to school in the virtual world.  The virtual world he escapes into is infinitely better than his horrific, crowded, dangerous trailer park existence in the real world. The theme of bits versus atoms pervades this book.  In the real world, even virtual money is worth more than most national currencies.

The story is centered around a contest to gain control of the world wide virtual world called OASIS.  To do this, the entrants must solves riddles that were part of the creator of the virtual world's childhood.  The childhood is a kind of super fanboy and geek festival filled with 1980s references; everything from Duran Duran to Star Trek to the video game Joust.  It is very funny.  It reminds me a bit of my own childhood.

The book adds in many tropes: a love interest, an evil corporation, and plenty of action.  It moves very quickly from scene to scene and makes you want to find out what happens next.  The book made me laugh and smile while I was reading it.  It is lot of fun especially if you are nostalgic about the 1980s, liked roleplaying games, video games, comics, and listened to rock music.

Ernest Cline has a website http://www.ernestcline.com/  .  The book Ready Player One is coming out in August of 2011.  I was reading an advanced reading copy sent to me by Library Journal   I think this book will cross reading genres and be appealing to a wide audience.

Geek is the New Pink.

Have you ever heard that saying? Well, I'm sure you have at one point or another because it has such great rhyming qualities.

But it is so totally true. Geek is really becoming the new pink. And you know how I know that?

Because I am a geek. Yes, it's true. I've even been told you so many occasions. But is that supposed to be a bad thing? Nope. It really isn't. I'm very content with that since there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Brains? Absolutely. A great thing to have and a horrible thing to waste. So I say, if you have them, use them. There is nothing wrong with showing off your brainy side.

Furthermore, geeks are unique. They are not afraid to be themselves. And that's a great trait to have. Being yourself is a shining star to be admired. Because if you can't be yourself, then who can you be?

So be a geek. It's the new pink. Be that shining star. Because there is absolutely wrong with it.

GEEEEEKKSSSSS!!!

Remember Lisa Loeb?

If you're a teen, you probably don't because she shot to fame about fifteen years ago because of ... her glasses. Yeah, she was a singer, too, but that wasn't what made her novel.

You see, back then, geeks were just that ... geeks. Unlovely, lonely, squirrelly little guys hiding up in their attic playing Dungeons and Dragons. Sure, we had our Angus Young (AC-DC), but otherwise, geeks were better off not seen and not heard.

You doubt me? Well, have you ever seen the movie, "Breakfast Club"? Who got the chicks, huh? Not the nerd. The jock and the grunge dude got the girls ... the geek got his pencil protector.

But then things started changing. First there was "Revenge of the Nerds," and then there was Lisa Loeb.

Lisa Loeb. A good lucking girl who ... wore nerdy glasses ... not just wore them, but made them look good. And, by all accounts, she was a nerd.

Next thing you know, it's cool to be a nerd, a geek, a twerp. Geeks came down from their attics, blinking through their thick nerd glasses as they ventured into the sunlight. Robert Downey Jr., surely not a geek, wore geek glasses. Soon everyone was wearing geek glasses.

So, in a way, perhaps geek glasses are what finally made geeks chic.

I was postulating this theory to my wife tonight, and after a moment of listening and watching me waving my arms around as I made my point, she said, "Women like geeks."

I stopped in my tracks, "They do?"

"Well, some do. Like me, I like geeks."

"You do?" I squeaked.

"Sure, I married one, didn't I?"


Norm

www.normcowie.com
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