Editorial Review
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
Disappointing 
2008-09-01
I purchased the book following a positive review in Scientific America. Unfortunately I found it to be mainly historical observation and hypothesizing, rather than what I hoped would be a researched analysis.
A for Effort. C for Execution. Too, um, clinical 
2008-07-25
In short, I was moderately disappointed in this book. I gave it a 3rd star simply because I sympathize to some extent with the object of the book: the nerd. I was not a nerd in school, but I am definitely a geek. As another reviewer noted, the author did a substandard job in delineating the differences between geeks, nerds, dorks, etc.
Overall, the book was not an enjoyable read. It came off as too academic. I enjoy serious, academic books most of the time, but did not buy this book with that expectation in mind.
What someone needs to write is a real geek memoir, not this ethnographic treatise. Perhaps that someone will be me.
Missed Opportunity 2008-07-22
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 
2008-07-17
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 2008-07-17
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 2008-07-10
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.
Nerds are (interesting) people, too! 
2008-07-01
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.
American Nerd: the story of my people 
2008-06-28
Funny, intelligent and informative! Ben Nugent has a better than nerdy style of writing. It kept my interest all the way thru.
Interesting, but not quite what I expected 2008-06-22
The title was extremely intriguing, I'll admit. A treatise on the nerd? Can't say I've seen it done before, but I haven't really searched for such a thing, either.
His bias as a childhood nerd clearly affects his writing, but I didn't find said bias to be intolerable, either. Just be aware that it is very much evident in the first part of the book.
Nugent nicely outlines the history of the nerd and gives a comprehensive definition of what he considers a nerd (very loosely, a person strongly attracted to the rational and the definitive) and why society-at-large shuns nerds.
My favorite part of the book was the section entitled "The cool nerd: superficial reflections on the hipster." (His coverage of this is somewhat amusing, given that the hipster adoption of nerdiness provides the book's marketed audience, imo.)
I was rather dissatisfied that he never addressed the difference between the geek and the nerd--he even discusses the show Freaks and Geeks, but never the difference (is there a difference?) between terms such as "geek," "dork," and "nerd."
My primary issues with the book are with its structure and the lack of certain content. I found that the book seemed to jump from subject to subject, with only a loose connection occurring from chapter to chapter. I suspect I would've enjoyed it much more had I read only a chapter at a time. Secondly, for a book that purports to be "the story of my people," he largely neglects the female nerd.
I really wanted to like the book, but I found it too dis-connected and personal. It's not at all poorly written, but it just wasn't to my taste.
A nerd autobiography 2008-05-31
This book is a boring disappointment. Evidently the author, a self-proclaimed nerd, had a difficult childhood. As a nerd teenage victim he hates jocks and seeks escape into fantasy worlds like D&D, anime, WOW, etc. He examines the portrayal of nerds in literature, TV, and movies. He discusses Asperger syndrome and autism, but never mentions the term, IQ, which means that he totally misses the central fact of who nerds are.
Geez! I can't believe I read the whole thing!
