Review – Geek Wisdom by N. K. Jemisin, Genevieve Valentine, Eric San Juan and Zaki Hasan (5/5 stars)

Reading level: All ages (some swearing a couple places)
Genre: Non-fiction
Size: 224 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release Date: August 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-1594745270
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: From Librarything’s Early Reviewer Program
Rating: 5/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through Librarything’s Early Reviewer program. It was a super fun read especially for those who are fans of all things geeky.

The book is split into four or five parts each encompassing life lessons: wisdom about the self (My name is Inigo Montoya), wisdom about the universe (Billions and Billions), wisdom about the future, etc. Within these sections each page has a quote on top of it and then the quote is discussed in greater (and often humorous) length below. There are usually additional footnotes containing miscellaneous facts about the quote or the person who made it.

This book has quote from everything from the Princess Bride to Star Wars to the Big Bang Theory to Edward Scissorhands and even Tolkien. The book pretty much spans a wide horizon of geekiness.

There is a lot of humor in here but there is also some seriousness; how to apply geeky quotes to living your everyday life is discussed. The issue of being geeky and a woman is touched on a few times too; usually with a sensitive, yet humorous bent to it. I also enjoyed the discussion on steampunk fans, the new and less objectionable version of a goth.

My whole family really enjoyed this book and I think it is a wonderful gift/coffee table book for those self-proclaimed geeks in your life. Just reading the quotes and footnotes are fun. It is also fun to see how many of the quotes you are familiar with. I quizzed my husband on some of them to see which ones he remembered. My son enjoyed the Star Wars ones and got to learn a few new things.

Overall this is a super fun book and I really enjoyed reading it. I started reading it with my family and then was surprised when I ended up sitting down and reading the rest of it in one sitting. Aside from all the fun there are some thought-provoking discussions in here as well. Highly recommended!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 150+ Books Reading Challenge
– TBR Pile Reading Challenge