For all of you who grew up in the 80s - and I mean if you were a teenager then, not born in the 80s cause this would mean so much more - I have a total book recommend.
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
You will probably still enjoy this a lot if you're geeky, have a fondness for the era or whatever, but the constant references to the 80s will really stir the hearts of my kindred. It's a compulsive read and whole cement mixer of fun. Set in the not-too-distant future, eccentric billionaire OASIS computer designer James Halliday dies with no heirs to leave the his vast fortune. Instead he sets up a hunt for three keys located somewhere in this huge maze of elaborate virtual worlds he has created. Solve the puzzles, get the keys, get the fortune - if you're the first. Because every other person on the horribly downtrodden Earth is trying to do the same thing.
Our hero Wade is trying to do just this. Halliday was a crazy nerd, coming of age in the 80s and therefore we see LOTS of the 80s woven into the story. I found myself hanging on to see what the next reference would be. He talks about the first Easter Egg ever put into a game (in "Adventure" for the Atari 2600) and I remember stumbling onto that one myself as a -what?- 8-year-old. I can still get to it decades later, if you put a real joystick in my hand. It's not that complicated, and my parents still have a working 2600 and all the games that went with it we had. As it refers to Dungeons and Dragons, I thought about the times I was a seventh-level halfling named Gretchen and had spent hours with my older brother and his friend exploring this new realm of games soon to be known as RPGs. It was so new, the whole controversy about whether or not D&D was "satanic" hadn't even been discussed yet.
All the name dropping made me dredge up my crush on the 80s and time-travel in my mind to remember whens. I'd say more, but I want you to be as happily surprised as I was about it.
Ready Player One is completely nerd-tastic. Get your geek on, baby. It's probably closer to your surface than you think.
Comments (4)
That sounds really neat! Something that Fritz would like, I'm sure. And something I'd enjoy him telling me about because I can't read.
@Grtt - It is FAN-TAS-TIC! Liebling will LOVE it. Or not, but I suspect yes. You'd even like it. If you could read that is. Maybe a graphic novel version...? Thanks for the rec.
D&D is so satanic. I remember that too clearly. I was trying to write for the church youth group newsletter and decided to write a pro-D&D article. My first experience with censorship. =/
@dirtbubble - Ah, what a way to learn of censorship. Nothing a good combat throw from the d20 couldn't handle.