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title = "Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture - Stephen H. Segal, N.K. Jemisin, Eric San Juan, Genevieve Valentine, Zaki Hasan"
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date = 2020-03-10
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[taxonomies]
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tags = ["books", "reviews", "fun", "stephen h segal", "n k jemisin",
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"eric san juan", "genevieve valentine", "zaki hasan", "1 star"]
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[GoodReads Summary](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10418415-geek-wisdom):
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Computer nerds are our titans of industry; comic-book superheroes are our
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Hollywood idols; the Internet is our night on the town. Clearly, geeks know
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something about life in the 21st century that other folks don’t—something we
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all can learn from. Geek Wisdom takes as gospel some 200 of the most powerful
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and oft-cited quotes from movies (“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”),
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television (“Now we know—and knowing is half the battle”), literature (“All
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that is gold does not glitter”), games, science, the Internet, and more. Now
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these beloved pearls of modern-day culture have been painstakingly interpreted
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by a diverse team of hardcore nerds with their imaginations turned up to 11.
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Yes, this collection of mini-essays is by, for, and about geeks—but it’s just
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so surprisingly profound, the rest of us would have to be dorks not to read
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it. So say we all.
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{{ stars(stars=1) }}
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Although it is getting common in my reviews, I have to say this again: I have
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no idea what's the target of this book.
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Everything starts with a quote: A scientist, a meme, a movie quote, a game
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character, take your "geek" pick". Then, it is followed by a commentary about
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the quote. And, finally, some piece of trivia/explanation about the quote
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itself.
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The content of the book, then, is the commentary about the quotes.
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And that's where my confusion comes.
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Some explanations seem targeted to other geeks: "You see, So-And-So says this,
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so we geek should be careful about that". Some others seem targeted to
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non-geeks: "Geeks love So-And-So, because they said that and geeks related to
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it". So, it's a book to geeks or to non-geeks?
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No only that, but some explanations are really dense, like the author (one of
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them) is trying to push a point in a short form and throwing jumping stones
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really fast, to the point that when you reach the end of the paragraph, you
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have no idea how it started.
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And some are borderline insane: "Transformers! Transform and roll out!" is
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related to Martin Luther King "Change does not roll in on the wheels of
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inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle." And with that all I can
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think is "Really? Like, really really?!?"
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In the end, it is just a book about geeky quotes and a lot of filler.
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