Extra Credit Blog

Around Christmas time, I found a book on sale for four bucks at Borders. It was called "American Nerd: The Story of My People." With a title like that, how could I not buy it? I've been reading it off and on this semester, mostly during my hour long break before this class, and I've found it very interesting. The book is broken into three parts: "a history of the nerd," "among the nerds," and "my credentials." The first section, of course, looks at where the word came from. It also gives a brief explanation of how the United States grew to be so infatuated with sports and manliness. In the chapter "the rise of phys ed," it's interesting to me that our own state, Ohio, was the first to establish phys ed requirements in public schools, in 1892. Part two of the book, "among the nerds," provides glimpses into different groups of people that might be considered nerdy, from debate club to D&D. There is also an interesting chapter on Asperger's syndrome. The final section is the author Benjamin Nugent's "credentials," extending upon the few chapters through out the book where he discussed his own experiences with D&D and bullying. This book relates very much so to what we've discussed throughout this semester about identity. Even the title: "The Story of My People." It's about HIS people and understanding why they are the way they are and how they identify with one another.