Embrace Your Geekness Day 2016

Today is Embrace Your Geekness day (true story, look it up), and being a proud geek, I wanted to celebrate by highlighting some of my favorite books with geeky premises. Whether it be video games, comics, books, television shows, movies, etc., there are so many awesome and geeky things in the world that have been given proper respect in some great books. So all you proud geeks out there, this one is for you. Get ready, this is a long one!

Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Oh the love affair I had with this book. The book takes place in New York City the late 1930’s/early 1940’s, right at the time that comic books were just getting started. Two cousins, Joe Kavalier (artist) and Sammy Clay (writer), decide to try their hand at comic book writing/illustration and create a group of memorable characters to work into their own comic series. The story follows their breakthrough into and journey through the comic industry, their successes, and their failures. This book was incredibly interesting and also so freakin exciting! So much happens and I had the hardest time putting this book down when I was reading it. I also love how a lot of the events that take place in the book are based off actual people in the comic industry (Stan lee, Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, etc.) and also includes numerous historical figures, with minor roles (Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, etc.). Kavalier and Clay combines comics and history into a fast-paced story set in historic time (WW2 era) and depicts the struggle and drives of artists and writers in the Golden Age of Comics.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Since I first read this book I have had a hard time putting my love of it into coherent words. I usually end up babbling about how the book is everything I am, and I’m a child of the 80s, and blah blah blah. So I am going to try to distance myself from fangirl mode for a few minutes and write about why this book is so awesome. RPO basically has anything and everything geeky that you could ever want: video games, 80s movies, anime, virtual reality, MMORPG’s, etc. Not only does this book embrace the geek and nerd culture, but it also hits the mark in terms of the human need for technology and our obsessive want for “the next big thing”, as well as our growing detachment from reality. On a deeper level the book is a wake-up call to where the human race could be heading and what some of the consequences could be. Seriousness aside though, this book is a geek/nerd’s paradise and I guarantee you will love every minute of it. I remember getting near the end of it and actually slowing down my reading speed to try to make it not end. Alas, it came to an end, but I know for a fact it is a book that will always stay with me.

Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

The Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy (not to be confused with the sequel series, Dragonlance Legends, which is also quite awesome) includes Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984), Dragons of Winter Night (1985), and Dragons of Spring Dawning (1985). The main reason this series stands out to me is because this was the first fantasy trilogy I went and sought out on my own, and oh hell did I fall completely in love with it. Aside from the fantasy aspect, I think what also classifies these books into the geek genre is that they are based on Dungeons & Dragons, which is basically one of the epitomes of geek culture. The premise of the series is a group of friends, and new companions, embark upon a journey to become Heroes of the Lance, in which they must find the Disks of Mishakal that contain the teachings of the gods of good, evil, and neutrality. Do you feel geekier just reading this? Because I sure feel geeky writing it! Seriously though, this is a great fantasy trilogy that you will fly through and has characters you will fall in love with (I still remember having a crush on one of the characters when I first read these books at the age of 16). Actually, now that I am talking about this series I think I will go back and read it again.

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner

This non-fiction book is about John Carmack and John Romero, two of the biggest names in the video game industry and founders of id Software. You may not be familiar with that company name, but you will recognize many of the games it had produced, such as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake. The company is also known for its involvement in the creation of the first-person shooter genre. The book chronicles how Carmack and Romero escaped their lives to live the “American dream”, transformed pop-culture through video games, created one of the most notorious game franchises, and were inevitably torn apart by the things they created. Not only does this book highlight one of the biggest moments in gaming history, but it also deals with friendship, emotions, betrayal, artistry, commerce, and so, so many other things. This is an excellent book with a great story and insight, and if you are a gamer geek you will definitely want to own this in hardcopy.

Honorable Mentions

Unfortunately this post can only go on for so long, so I just want to mention a few other books that I think are worth checking out.

Neverending Story by Michael Ende

Any child of the 80s probably watched this movie religiously. The reason I am bringing this up in the geek post is because it is about a kid who gets drawn into the world of a book where he has to help save the world of Fantastica! Isn’t that something that book geeks dream about happening every time they read? Hell I know I do! I feel like it NEEDS to be read. So do it!

Console Wars by Blake J. Harris

Anyone who existed in the 1990s and was over the age of five remembers the epic battle between Nintendo and Sega. Nintendo blew us all away in the 90s and seemed like it could not be rivaled. Enter Sega, an arcade company who morphed and grew to challenge Nintendo in the battle of the video game consoles. This non-fiction book chronicles the rise of Nintendo and Sega and the ongoing battle between the two for console supremacy.

Reckoners Series by Brandon Sandwrson

Okay so if you like superheroes then you should definitely check out this series, which is comprised of the books Steelheart, Firefight, and Calamity. Think of it as superheroes with a twist. The “superheroes” are called Epics and they are not mankind friendly. It is a group of ordinary humans, known as the Reckoners, who are the real heroes and fight against the Epics on behalf of mankind. Regular people serving as the superheroes? Hell yeah! Didn’t we all want to be superheroes as kids (and as adults)?

The Jedi Path and Book of Sith by Daniel Wallace

Of course I had to mention something Star Wars! The Jedi Path is the manual for students of the Force, written kind of like a textbook, which explains Jedi Order hierarchy, history, lightsaber components and combat tactics, and everything else a Jedi might need for training.  The Book of Sith is the dark side texts and details Sith ways, history, philosophy, etc. Both books are illustrated and have notes in the margins “written” by those who have used the books such as Yoda, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Mace Windu, and many more. These are a must read for ANY star wars fan and you will happily geek out while reading them.

Okay, this is my cut-off point. May the geeks of the world live long and prosper! Now go embrace your geekness!