American Nerd PDF Download

Author: Benjamin Nugent
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416565515
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
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.

Author: James Maguire
Publisher: Rodale
ISBN: 1594862141
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
A narrative portrait of the America's national spelling bee competition offers insight into its subculture of young wordsmiths, competitive parents, and spectator tension, sharing the stories of five top contestants to offer insight into their ambitions and winning strategies. 40,000 first printing.

Author: Benjamin Nugent
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743288017
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
An engaging study of the nerd in American popular culture and throughout history discussed in such contexts as the rise of online gaming, the science fiction club, ethnicity, Asperger's syndrome, autism, and high school and college debating.

Author: Jenna Blum
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0151010196
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Trudy Swenson, haunted by her German heritage, embarks upon a deeper investigation of her past and uncovers secrets her mother has kept hidden for five decades.

Author: Simon Pegg
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101529083
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
The unique life story of one of the most talented and inventive comedians, star of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul, Spaced, and Star Trek. Zombies in North London, death cults in the West Country, the engineering deck of the Enterprise -- actor, comedian, writer, and supergeek Simon Pegg has been ploughing some bizarre furrows. Having landed on the U.S. movie scene in the surprise cult hit Shaun of the Dead, his enduring appeal and rise to movie stardom has been mercurial, meteoric, megatronic, but mostly just plain great. From his childhood (and subsequently adult) obsession with science fiction, his enduring friendship with Nick Frost, and his forays into stand-up comedy, which began with his regular Monday-morning slot in front of his twelve-year-old classmates, Simon has always had a severe and dangerous case of the funnies. Whether recounting his experience working as a lifeguard at the city pool, going to Comic-Con for the first time and confessing to Carrie Fisher that he used to kiss her picture every night before he went to sleep, or meeting and working with heroes that include Peter Jackson, Kevin Smith, and Quentin Tarantino, Pegg offers a hilarious look at the journey to becoming an international superstar.

Author: Curtis Armstrong
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
ISBN: 1250113946
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Risky Business. Revenge of the Nerds. Better Off Dead. Moonlighting. Supernatural. American Dad. New Girl. What do all of these movies and television shows have in common? Curtis Armstrong. A legendary comedic second banana to a litany of major stars, Curtis is forever cemented in the public imagination as Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. A classically trained actor, Curtis began his incredible 40-year career on stage but progressed rapidly to film and television. He was typecast early and it proved to be the best thing that could have happened. But there’s more to Curtis’ story than that. Born and bred a nerd, he spent his early years between Detroit, a city so nerdy that the word was coined there in 1951, and, improbably, Geneva, Switzerland. His adolescence and early adulthood was spent primarily between the covers of a book and indulging his nerdy obsessions. It was only when he found his true calling, as an actor and unintentional nerd icon, that he found true happiness. With whip-smart, self-effacing humor, Armstrong takes us on a most unlikely journey—one nerd’s hilarious, often touching rise to the middle. He started his life as an outcast and matured into...well, an older, slightly paunchier, hopefully wiser outcast. In Hollywood, as in life, that counts as winning the game.

Author: G. B. Trudeau
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ISBN: 9780740768507
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
In this collection, Alex starts her freshman year at MIT, Granny D reluctantly comes to live with Mike and Kim in Seattle, Mark and Chase's relationship falls apart, Uncle Duke becomes a lobbyist, and B.D. starts group therapy.

Author: David Anderegg
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101479140
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
A lively, thought-provoking book that zeros in on the timely issue of how anti-intellectualism is bad for our children and even worse for America. Why are our children so terrified to be called "nerds"? And what is the cost of this rising tide of anti-intellectualism to both our children and our nation? In Nerds, family psychotherapist and psychology professor David Anderegg examines why science and engineering have become socially poisonous disciplines, why adults wink at the derision of "nerdy" kids, and what we can do to prepare our children to succeed in an increasingly high-tech world. Nerds takes a measured look at how we think about and why we should rethink "nerds," examining such topics as: - our anxiety about intense interest in things mechanical or technological; - the pathologizing of "nerdy" behavior with diagnoses such as Asperger syndrome; - the cycle of anti-nerd prejudice that took place after the Columbine incident; - why nerds are almost exclusively an American phenomenon; - the archetypal struggles of nerds and jocks in American popular culture and history; - the conformity of adolescents and why adolescent stereotypes linger into adulthood long after we should know better; and nerd cultural markers, particularly science fiction. Using education research, psychological theory, and interviews with nerdy and non-nerdy kids alike, Anderegg argues that we stand in dire need of turning around the big dumb ship of American society to prepare rising generations to compete in the global marketplace. Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book.

Author: Stephen H. Segal
Publisher: Quirk Books
ISBN: 1594748713
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
It takes a starship to raise a child. Or a time machine. Or a tribe of elves. Fortunately, Geek Parenting offers all that and more, with thoughtful mini-essays that reveal profound child-rearing advice (and mistakes) from the most beloved tales of geek culture. Nerds and norms alike can take counsel from some of the most iconic parent–child pairings found in pop culture: Aunt May and Peter Parker, Benjamin and Jake Sisko, Elrond and Arwen, even Cersei and Joffrey. Whether you’re raising an Amazon princess, a Jedi Padawan, a brooding vampire, or a standard-issue human child, Geek Parenting helps you navigate the ion storms, alternate realities, and endless fetch quests that come with being a parent. Includes parenting experts from across time and space, such as: Luke and Vader Korra and Tenzin Wednesday and Morticia Addams Frodo and Bilbo Rose and Jackie Tyler Carl and Michonne Thor, Loki, and Odin Starbuck, Apollo and Adama Stewie and Lois Sarah Manning and Mrs. S. T'Challa and T'Chaka Spock, Sarek, and Amanda Claudia and Lestat San and Moro Perseus and Zeus Dorothy and Auntie Em Bruce Wayne and Alfred Buffy and Giles Meg Murry and Aunt Beast Orpheus and Morpheus Paul Atreides and Lady Jessica Kal-El and Jor-El Chakotay and Kolopak Scott and Dr. Evil Diana and Hippolyta Alexander and Worf

Author: Kathryn E. Lane
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319657445
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This collection examines the nerd and/or geek stereotype in popular culture today. Utilizing the media—film, TV, YouTube, Twitter, fiction—that often defines daily lives, the contributors interrogate what it means to be labeled a “nerd” or “geek.” While the nerd/geek that is so easily recognized now is assuredly a twenty-first century construct, an examination of the terms’ history brings a greater understanding of their evolution. From sports to slasher films, Age of the Geek establishes a dialogue with texts as varied as the depictions of “nerd” or “geek” stereotypes.