American Nerd: The Story of My People | 
 enlarge | Author: Benjamin Nugent
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 12931
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0743288017
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.90890973
EAN: 9780743288019
ASIN: 0743288017
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
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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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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Missed Opportunity July 22, 2008
Although one of of the more interesting & layered treatments of nerds, the book falls short of its promise. It can't quite decide whether it wants to be a memoir or a cultural genealogy of nerds. In the end, it offers too little of both & left me wanting to read more. Definitely worth reading & a breezy read.
 Tries too hard July 17, 2008
American Nerd, the Story of My People"; Benjamin Nugent's look into the subculture of nerdism, is a mix of facts and memoir. He looks back at his childhood, spent with similar boys, all finding fantasy games, books and computers easier to face than their peers. The safety found within orderly game rules, programming and building their own worlds protected them from the scorn and insults of their classmates and the worry and well-intentioned help of adults. Their banding together and imaginations eased lives touched by divorce, abuse, economic scarcity, and helped them navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence. Looking back at his childhood and teen years he also has to come to terms with the way he moved away from these friends, sometimes without explanation.
At times the text seems to push too hard when trying to establish the scholarship of the "nerd as subculture" idea. It is interesting to see the idea of grouping intellectual and physical outsiders existed far before the term came into vogue. There are examples in popular culture: Revenge of the Nerds, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Dungeons and Dragons and Halo. Being branded a nerd does not doom one to social outer darkness. The new world of Internet gaming provides a social gathering place for "nerds"(I immediately plan to cut my World of Warcraft hours). Sword fighting by the Society of Creative Anachronism and like activities helps to dispel part of the myths that nerds are physically frail and doomed to social exile. The business world actively courts those with computer savvy and ability to think outside the box. A great book for the nerd and anti-nerd alike(aren't we each a bit of both?).
Baffling. One of us ... but not July 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm a 53-year-old grandmother with impeccable Nerd credentials, and I looked forward to this book.
Having finished it, I'm baffled.
Why, when the subdeck proclaims "The Story of My People", does the author spend the final chapter making it ULTRA-clear that he hasn't numbered among us since the age of 14? At that time, he asserts, he became "cool".
Okay, I get it. Coming out as a nerd could be hazardous to your self-esteem, career prospects and continued marketability as a media hipster ... but I really resented the last-chapter renunciation.
Turning to the book, it's an enjoyable read, if a bit constrained by the writer's place in time. Oh, yes, he covers D&D ... but what about the 60's precursors, wargames? The treatment of the place of science fiction is truncated to 80's-kid sensibility; the author obviously missed those of us baby boomers who came to self-awareness as 60's-era library kids, scarfing up Asimov and Heinlein's YA titles (over the strenuous objections of school librarians, teachers and parents).
Bottom line: the book is interesting but too restricted to one writer's sensibility. Reach a bit, and you may touch the core of nerdness, but not in the limited cultural icons this author parades.
Are you a nerd? I am. And as an author, I don't have any puerile need to distance myself from the title.
Too bad this writer can't OWN the "people" he claims to document.
Is "hip" really worth your soul, honey?
Interesting, but with big omissions July 10, 2008
The book is entertaining and informative, but has some glaring omissions. First, as Hilary "silverfoil" already mentioned, Nugent gives far too little mention to female nerd. (Did he not know enough of them?) Second, there is absolutely no mention of "athletic nerd" -- and yes, such creature exists and is not all that rare.
To quote "Care and Feeding of Hacker" (and the fact that I know of this document is proof of my nerdiness right there!):
"Many (perhaps even most) hackers don't follow or do sports at all and are determinedly anti-physical. Among those who do, interest in spectator sports is low to non-existent; sports are something one *does*, not something one watches on TV.
Further, hackers avoid most team sports like the plague. Volleyball was long a notable exception, perhaps because it's non-contact and relatively friendly; Ultimate Frisbee has become quite popular for similar reasons. Hacker sports are almost always primarily self-competitive ones involving concentration, stamina, and micromotor skills: martial arts, bicycling, auto racing, kite flying, hiking, rock climbing, aviation, target-shooting, sailing, caving, juggling, skiing, skating (ice and roller). Hackers' delight in techno-toys also tends to draw them towards hobbies with nifty complicated equipment that they can tinker with."
Replace "hacker" with "nerd" (the former is a subset of latter, anyway), and the quote holds true. I am a "scuba nerd", among other things -- I may have highly specialized interests to the exclusion of much else, but no one would call me an "effeet stick-figure". Scuba is also an activity that enables me to socialize with supposedly non-nerds, but are they really? So many scuba divers I know seem to be like me -- obssessed with technical details of the sport, rarely talking about anything else, and working in computer/engineering fields, that I suspect scuba is actually the ultimate nerd activity -- your LIFE depends on maintaining and correctly using technology and you build up your body for highly specific goals (almost like tuning a machine), yet there is no confrontation, and unless you act stupid (like a testosteron-addled jock?), your challenges are never greater than what you want them to be. How cool is that?
Finally, I think Nugent overestimates the amount of self-loathing among nerds and Aspies. Self-loathing and/or feeling of alienation certainly exists, and I experienced my share of it, but it seems to me that nowadays a lot of young women had realized that engineering major with glasses is liable to make a lot more money than the jock on the football team, and seem more tolerant of his social failings -- perhaps because these women themselves grew up on IM and texting? And as I know from personal experience, engineering majors want some *minimal* acceptance but do not feel the need for popularity. Getting laid regularly is enough to be content, and for self-loathing to disappear.
 Nerds are (interesting) people, too! July 1, 2008
Nugent has produced a high-quality, entertaining read about what he calls "my people"--and I guess they're mine, too. _American Nerd_ is a wide-ranging discussion of what makes someone a "nerd", from the first appearances in writing of the pejorative itself to the physiological origin and allure of nerdlike activities. Other than a couple of odd jaunts into questionable psychoanalysis, this one is absolutely worth your time for its look into an interesting and oft-maligned subculture that has more influence on today's culture than you might first imagine.
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