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Title: American Nerd: The Story of My People
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Manufacturer: Scribner
List Price: $20.00
Our Price: $13.60
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| American Nerd: The Story of My People by Scribner Many Surprises | Nugent weaves analysis of history, literature, and sociology with reporting, and personal experience to create a multidimensional perspective on what it means in to be a nerd in this culture. He looks at stereotypes, cultural assumptions and their impact on people who tend to be better at activities that don't demand mastery of subtle social interaction and nuance. He reports on a variety of group activities enjoyed by this population and explores some of the psychological benefits of belonging to such groups. As he ponders some of the effects of anti-nerd sentiment and reflects on himself and his childhood friends, he provides an analysis that is poignant, funny, thought provoking, and compassionate. I laughed and cried as I moved through it. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a more complex understanding of a far reaching and often shallow social construction.
| | American Nerd: The Story of My People by Scribner Product Description | | Most people know a nerd when they see one but can't define just what a nerd is. American Nerd: The Story of My People gives us the history of the concept of nerdiness and of the subcultures we consider nerdy. What makes Dr. Frankenstein the archetypal nerd? Where did the modern jock come from? When and how did being a self-described nerd become trendy? As the nerd emerged, vaguely formed, in the nineteenth century, and popped up again and again in college humor journals and sketch comedy, our culture obsessed over the designation. Mixing research and reportage with autobiography, critically acclaimed writer Benjamin Nugent embarks on a fact-finding mission of the most entertaining variety. He seeks the best definition of nerd and illuminates the common ground between nerd subcultures that might seem unrelated: high-school debate team kids and ham radio enthusiasts, medieval reenactors and pro-circuit Halo players. Why do the same people who like to work with computers also enjoy playing Dungeons & Dragons? How are those activities similar? This clever, enlightening book will appeal to the nerd (and antinerd) that lives inside all of us. |
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