Review – The Geek’s Guide to Dating by Eric Smith (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult/Adult
Genre: Non-fiction
Length: 208 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release Date: December 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-1594746437
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: ARC from Amazon Vine
Rating: 4/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. It was a fun read. The book is aimed more at the male than the female daters, but can apply to both. I really enjoyed the sheer amount of geekiness that is packed into this book.

This dating guide is laid out like a gaming manual, which is really clever. The first chapter is “Selecting Your Character”, followed by chapters on “Engage!”, and “Do or Not Do”. You get the idea.

This book is aimed at male geeks who need help with dating. As such I am definitely not the target audience (female and married, yes the geek part applies though). That being said I still had a lot of fun reading this book. It is really done in a clever way and I loved trying to find all the geeky references as I read it. There are cute little pixelated images throughout that added some fun to the book too.

A lot of what is in here does apply to female geeks to. Although there portions of the book that focus on grooming and hopefully they aren’t a lot of girls out there struggling with keeping their facial hair in line. These portions also talk about how to dress for a casual versus formal date, and while geek girls out there could opt for slacks and a tie…I am guessing most of them won’t. So while some portions of the book will apply to girls, many parts of it do not.

There are many conversation scenarios laid out about what to say and not say. The “First Contact” section of the book is done like a choose your own adventure. You pick the conversation option and then follow it to GAME OVER or next date. These were pretty much spot on. I was actually laughing a little as I read them because I have had so many guys say or do the GAME OVER type of things to me throughout my life. I was just like “OMG I totally had some guy go off about his Star Wars collection for 20 minutes within 30 seconds of meeting him and it WAS totally game over”. Just an example…I do love Star Wars…

There is quite a bit in here about how to deal with both online and in person forms of dating. There are also some warnings about doing things that might hurt long term friendships, like dating within WOW guilds…etc. These are things that are a bit more specific to the geek community and it was good to see them discussed.

The issues of what to do when you are shot down are addressed as well, which is important because not everything will always work out.

I also enjoyed the Boss Level that talks about things that make a relationship work long term; you know trusting each other, how to deal with disagreements, etc. They are all recommendations toward a healthy and fulfilling relationship. Yeah, it sounds cliche’ but it’s still really important.

Overall this was a fun read and I thought it provided a lot of sound advice. It is more aimed at a male audience, but females will find good advice in here too. Even though I am not dating right now, I enjoyed reading it because of all the fun geeky references. I also thought the book was laid out in a creative way that made it engaging to read. Lots of good advice in here. I found myself nodding in agreement with a lot of the DO NOT DO or GAME OVER things. It really wouldn’t hurt all geeks, especially those in the dating stage, to give this book a read through. It’s fun and provides some good advice.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge