Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This is a dystopian novel set in the year 2044.  You could also call it a quest novel, a coming of age novel, or near future science fiction.  It melds many different themes into a unique, funny, and exciting story.  The one common theme that seems to unite all of it is geek culture, video games, and the 1980s.

Wade Watts the main character, is a geeky kid who spends most of his time in the virtual world of OASIS.  Virtual reality in this setting is extremely realistic.  Wade Watts even goes to school in the virtual world.  The virtual world he escapes into is infinitely better than his horrific, crowded, dangerous trailer park existence in the real world. The theme of bits versus atoms pervades this book.  In the real world, even virtual money is worth more than most national currencies.

The story is centered around a contest to gain control of the world wide virtual world called OASIS.  To do this, the entrants must solves riddles that were part of the creator of the virtual world's childhood.  The childhood is a kind of super fanboy and geek festival filled with 1980s references; everything from Duran Duran to Star Trek to the video game Joust.  It is very funny.  It reminds me a bit of my own childhood.

The book adds in many tropes: a love interest, an evil corporation, and plenty of action.  It moves very quickly from scene to scene and makes you want to find out what happens next.  The book made me laugh and smile while I was reading it.  It is lot of fun especially if you are nostalgic about the 1980s, liked roleplaying games, video games, comics, and listened to rock music.

Ernest Cline has a website http://www.ernestcline.com/  .  The book Ready Player One is coming out in August of 2011.  I was reading an advanced reading copy sent to me by Library Journal   I think this book will cross reading genres and be appealing to a wide audience.

Daily Thoughts 7/6/2011

English: A Love Story, painting, oil on canvas, 101.8 x 152.7 cm, by E. Phillips Fox,
1903

Daily Thoughts 7/6/2011

This morning, I read some more of Ernest Cline, Ready Player One. The book is going to be released in August.  It has a wonderful mix of1980s cliches and pop culture; everything from Gary Gygax to DuranDuran is mixed in a very ironic manner.  I also read a little more of On Strategy. The article I am reading now is titled, Reinventing Your Business Modelby Mark W. Johnson, Clayton M. Christensen, and Henning Kagerman.  Thefirst model they discuss is when Apple computers business model for theIpod.

Today was another quiet steady day.  I checkedthe displays, updated the Twitter account, and designed the flyer forthe End of Summer Reading Tea for the Adult Summer Reading Program.  Ialso put together a display for the Novel Destinations theme from theAdult Summer Reading package.  I picked out some novels byinternational authors like Guntner Grass, Salman Rushdie, IsabelAllende, Chinua Achebe, V.S. Naipaul, and others.

Daily Thoughts 7/5/2011

Caricature of George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (1834-1896). Caption read "Trilby".

Daily Thoughts 7/5/2011

Today has been another quiet day.  I read some more of On Strategy on the train to work.  I also checked the displays, updated the Twitter account, and checked the book displays.

I also spent some time looking through Forecast from Baker and Taylor to look for new titles which we should purchase.  The book Rule 34 by Charles Stross came in for me to read.  I always have more to read than I can possibly read.

I started writing the bimonthly report today which is due on July 7.  Things are very quiet.

We have our first Beginning Computer Class tonight in the computer lab.  The instructor came by at one o'clock to check the lab to make sure everything was working.

I read some more of On Strategy on the way home.  I finished the chapter called Building Your Company's Vision by James C. Collins and Jerry L. Porras.  I rather liked the section in this chapter on BHAG's Big Hairy Audacious Goals.  I also started reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  A major theme in this book is how the world of bits represented by computers and entertainment is becoming increasingly more palatable than the world of atoms represented by overpopulated, messy cities. The concept of bits versus atoms is often talked about in terms of the digital economy.

Web Bits

The Rising Cost of At Home Tech
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/the-rising-cost-of-at-home-tech/241210/

I thought this was some interesting commentary on the cost of digital devices.  They are not cheap and they do increase the divide between those who have them and those who don't.

Blogger and Picasa are Going to Be Rebranded by Google
http://mashable.com/2011/07/05/google-blogger-picasa-rebranding/