The Nerds Among Us

While growing up I would never have considered myself the coolest kid around and yet at the same time I knew there were a lot of people significantly more nerdy around me.  On one hand in middle school and high school I played Dungeons & Dragons, read constantly, wore dorky looking glasses, and was a theater geek.  But on the other hand I never got beat up, I managed the high school soccer team, I had friends throughout all the different social groups, and I was a strong and confident speaker.  So I guess I was kind of the half-nerd, and honestly I still am.  Hell I’m blogging for crying out loud!  And not just one blog, several, one of which is devoted entirely to science.  Also I love Star Wars, I play computer games, and I have a fascination with anything that has anything to do with robots and/or zombies.  So yeah, kind of nerdy, but it is okay, I still don’t get beat up (except when Bear and I have drunken punch fights and Bear utilizes his greater reach to destroy my solarplex.  Damn-it Bear, next time you have to keep your elbows tucked in, your arms are too damn long!).

But anyway why am I writing about this?  Probably because I found out about this book called American Nerd: The Story of My People and I think I very much want to read it.  Salon.com had a good interview with the author this morning (by the way reading Salon.com daily may also be kind of geeky). 

Yeah, nerds are everywhere.  Be nice to them, they are people too (albeit socially awkward people).

~ by Nathaniel on May 20, 2008.