2.6 KiB
+++ title = "The Geek's Guide to Dating - Eric Smith" date = 2021-03-23
[taxonomies] tags = ["books", "reviews", "books:2021", "stars:4", "edition:2013", "self-help"] +++
GoodReads Summary: You keep your action figures in their original packaging. Your bedsheets are officially licensed Star Wars merchandise. You're hooked on Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear but now you've discovered an even bigger obsession: the new girl who just moved in down the hall. What's a geek to do? Take some tips from Eric Smith in The Geek's Guide to Dating. This hilarious primer leads geeks of all ages through the perils and pitfalls of meeting women, going on dates, getting serious, breaking up, and establishing a successful lifelong relationship (hint: it's time to invest in new bedsheets). Full of whimsical 8-bit illustrations, The Geek's Guide to Dating will teach fanboys everywhere to love long and prosper.
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I have to be honest: The first 1/3 of the book was quite boring. If you ever read any other dating-advice book, there is a lot of same tips: Listen to her, find some common ground, etc, etc, etc. All that with heavy drops of geek/nerd culture: game references, movie references, book references and the continuous use of referring to the reader as "Player One" (ok, I get it: People are trying to get their "Player Two", but heck, calm the freaking down).
The later parts are a bit better, going off the common ground: casual dating, second date, how to dress, how to make things work when things get serious, what you should be looking for a long term relationship and how to act when things fall down -- either by your own decision or theirs.
But there is something off here: Sure, it is somewhat fun getting ideas using analogies based on nerd stuff (again, games, movies and books), but the whole thing seems focused on geek guys, and I feel it would be really interesting, as a guy, to understand the female perspective of this all. The book tries (tries) to make things a bit less biased by adding a disclaimer that geek girls can also read the book, and should just replace the "she/her" to "he/him" -- which absolutely does not work on some chapters, like the "How to Dress" part.
And yes, the heavy use of drop/nerd references in the first half does not help the lighter use in the second half: You're already tired of reading about Mario or Sonic or whatever.
I'm going to give a 3 star just because it does the extra mile of going to different ideas of dating (serious vs casual), dealing with things going serious and breakups.