Of all things Geek. I am…
I decided to pick up Downtown Owl again. I originally read it much closer to its release in 2008 for two reasons. First, Klosterman is an author whom I enjoy, and because I want to include a review or an essay on each of his works on this blog I was surprised that I hadn’t reviewed Downtown Owl before. Considering that I read it before this blog started, that makes a ton of sense.
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At this point in the Samson-verse, picking up the book is like reconnecting with an old friend. But if Faith was your first time meeting Bernard Samson, you wouldn’t be lost for some conversation either.
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Roger is not where he wants to be, working at Staples well past the age where that would have been noble. Bethany is Roger’s much younger co-worker who discovers that he’s a writer, or at least he’s attempting to be. What follows is a collection of letters and emails written by the characters that move the story along revealing the world as we know it.
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“Hostility towards nerds and geeks wastes a lot of human capital and impoverishes everyone in the process.” Speaking as someone who has taken his share of this hostility, it’s never easy to bear the brunt of it, but at least thanks in part to David Anderegg, Ph.D. and his book Nerds, I understand where it came from.
Even if it comes from a dark place and is always unwarranted.
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“In a political climate where anti-Semitism is resurgent and revisionism goes unchallenged, this history is a counterpoint to the fake news and false assumptions. From the humble hamburger to the space rocket, everything has a Jewish reason.”
The last paragraph on the inside dust jacket for Genius & Anxiety by Norman Lebrecht is not only the reason for its being, it is also a reason to open its pages.
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