Review: Geeks by Jon Katz

A few weeks back, I was in Barnes & Noble with a few friends of mine, when one says that she had seen a book she thought I would like. She showed it to me, a normal-sized paperback with a yellow and orange cover with a simple title, "Geeks." Written by a former Slashdot and HotWired contributor by the name of Jon Katz, Geeks is the story of two 'geek' teenage boys that use their knowledge of the 'Net and computers to make their way out of their small hometown in Idaho.

Katz writes this book from a journalistic standpoint, which is something I can appreciate from both a computer nerd's standpoint and a journalist's standpoint. Though he tries to stay objective, he can't help but to identify with one of the main characters, Jesse Dailey. This seems almost admirable to me: that he makes an exception to the norm just for these nerds. Granted, when one spends as much time with the two main characters as Katz did in order to write the book, it's difficult to keep from getting attached from your subject. (And by difficult I mean almost impossible.)

The two subjects of this book, Jesse Dailey and Eric Twilegar, along with two other students, were the only geeks in their high school. They started a "Geek Club" where they could discuss their hobbies and interests at lunch without fear of intrusion from others. In starting this club, they reverse the feelings of disclusion they have to deal with so much by being able to accept and reject the members. Only two ever even attempted to join, but the whole concept was that they had the power to decide who joined and who didn't.

After high school, none of them went to college. Eric and Jesse lost contact with the other members and went to work at a local--relatively local, that is--computer repair shop. There they expected themselves to remain, as no one really ever left Idaho.

Until one day when Jesse e-mailed Katz about his column. Katz kept up correspondence with the boys, and suggested they moved to a larger town. The two lost boys summoned up every ounce of courage and every fraction of a cent they had and went to Chicago.

Overall, I immensely enjoyed the introduction to the book...it explained geek culture and the Net generation so well.

I highly recommend this book to any fellow geek. You can find Geeks on Amazon here, and I suggest checking your local public library.

I leave you with one of my new favorite quotes, and one by Jesse Dailey that I feel echoes some of my deepest values:

Never in the world would I replace the pleasure of reading a great author, or conquering some vast technical puzzle, for a perfect GPA.

But I have a math test in a little more than five hours, so I must be off to sleep.