You must read this book

[label]

I just finished this book (Ready Player One by Ernest Cline) and I can't think of a better group of people who would enjoy this book more than you, my fellow Trek Literature fans.

I mentioned this in the "What are you reading now" thread but I really wanted to make sure everyone was made aware of this book because I really think pretty much everyone here would love the book as much as I did.

Anyway, here's the review. Please post back here with the review or shoot me an message if you end up reading it, I'd love to hear your feedback. It's a 2-3 sitting book to read.......not a very long book (about 400 pages) and just flies by before you know it.

Review

What a blast! This book isn't Shakespeare or Tolkien but is rather like a well done summer block-buster pop-corn flick where you pump your fist when the good guys win.

The book's set in the not too distant dystopian (and not all that unbelievable) future and revolves around one person's quest to win the holy grail of his life and times and is largely set in a futuristic MMO type of environment where the action is really fast paced and very cool for the most part.

I won't dive into any more details because the book's story is best read unspoiled, but the book moves fast, if filled with lots of action, really inventive ideas, a few twists and a ton of geek references from the late 70's through the early 2000's. Basically, if you're 20 or older and any sort of Sci-fi or fantasy or MMO type of geek you're going to love the book. If you're 30 and older, this book is a must read. That being said, I think anyone could read and enjoy the book even without getting some of the geeky references. It's a bit similar to a Harry Potter adventure though it's written more for adults.

I won't say the book is "perfect" as it's not entirely unpredictable in places and it didn't blow my mind or anything and the writer appears to be one of those militant atheists who seems to think anyone who doesn't share his view to one the universe's oldest questions is a moron, but that's only a distraction in a couple of spots. Most of the time he keeps his preaching to a minimum.

All in all, this is one of the most fun adventure-type-puzzle-type quest books I've read since Harry Potter 4 and can't wait for Cline to write a follow up to. Highly recommended to all.

 

[Ultramann]

And the name of this book is?

 

[label]

And the name of this book is?

Wow, guess I was a little to excited there and forgot the main point.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571-ready-player-one

 

[DimesDan]

Nope, I don't need to read this. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[label]

Nope, I don't need to read this. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Actually, now that you say it, I don't know how well some of this book would translate for those who didn't grow up in America......a lot of the references I enjoyed in the book were definitely American, though obviously some were shared by all worldwide.

That being said, even without getting all the references, it's a book that can definitely be enjoyed on it's own merits....it'd be kind of like reading Harry Potter 4 without reading 1-3........you'd still enjoy and get the book just fine, you'd just miss a reference here and there.

 

[JRoss]

Did you have fun plugging your book?

 

[label]

Did you have fun plugging your book?

Dude, what are you smoking? (And can I have some because that's some messed up stuff). Do you actually think *I* wrote this book? Seriously? And that I'm pimping it on a lowly TrekbBBS of all places (that I've been a member of for over a decade - I'm sure there are dozen's who've been around long enough to know me and that I'm not "Ernest Cline") when it's been advertised all over the major media sites as it is?? That's quite the foo-barred imagination you got there..........

As much as I would love to take credit for writing it, that's never been an interest (or talent) of mine.........I'm too busy reading other's people's stuff to write my own.

I *thought* that this being a Sci-Fi, literature community there *might* be interest in a cool new Sci-Fi book. It's really that simple. If it turns out that there is anyone who ends up enjoying the book, I'm happy to have turned people on to it.......people on this forum have turned me on to several books I've enjoyed.........that is, after all, the entire point of a community like this......to talk about books you're reading and introduce new books that people with similar interests might benefit from.

If you're not interested, who cares? I've read the book, I loved it, I think if people here give the book a shot, they'd love it too. However, if they don't read it, aren't open to suggestions or new things, or their to-do list is so set in stone that they're inflexible or just end up reading it and don't like it for some reason, I've already read the book and enjoyed the crap out of it so no skin of my nose either way......I've since moved on to reading "The Old man and the Wasteland"....(which I didn't write either).....I'm just trying to contribute to the community here....it's something you might want to try once in a while yourself.

 

[JD]

Your enthusiam for this has made me very curious. I haven't looked it up on B&N yet, but I probably will in the near future.

 

[label]

Your enthusiam for this has made me very curious. I haven't looked it up on B&N yet, but I probably will in the near future.

Cool. Let me know what you think. I don't think it's "the best book ever" or anything, but I had more fun with it than any other since The Hunger Games trilogy (also a flawed, but very fun series)

 

[Idran]

Dude, what are you smoking? (And can I have some because that's some messed up stuff). Do you actually think *I* wrote this book? Seriously? And that I'm pimping it on a lowly TrekbBBS of all places (that I've been a member of for over a decade - I'm sure there are dozen's who've been around long enough to know me and that I'm not "Ernest Cline") when it's been advertised all over the major media sites as it is?? That's quite the foo-barred imagination you got there..........

Don't you know, label? The only reason anyone would ever make a thread for a book is if they wrote it themselves. :O

(Seriously, that's a bit rude of an assumption, JRoss.)

 

[label]

Don't you know, label? The only reason anyone would ever make a thread for a book is if they wrote it themselves. :O

I sincerely wish I were capable of writing such a book. I can't think of very many things I think would be cooler to do for a living than writing Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

As it is, however, I'm content to sticking with writing software for banks. Not nearly as interesting I'm afraid, but it does pay the bills.

 

[Idran]

Don't you know, label? The only reason anyone would ever make a thread for a book is if they wrote it themselves. :O

I sincerely wish I were capable of writing such a book. I can't think of very many things I think would be cooler to do for a living than writing Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

As it is, however, I'm content to sticking with writing software for banks. Not nearly as interesting I'm afraid, but it does pay the bills.

See, what you do is you use variable names and comments to weave a story throughout your software. Best of both worlds!

 

[label]

See, what you do is you use variable names and comments to weave a story throughout your software. Best of both worlds!

I try and do that fairly often though there are a few stick in the mud's at work that don't like to have anything funny in our code base. For instance, I was catching an exception, doing something with it and then throwing it back up the stack and so I wrote code like this:

try
{
Do.Something();
}
catch(Exception up)
{
ExceptionLogger.Log(Up);
throw up;
}

All so I could have the words "throw up" be valid code. I do also try and be creative with my comments and variable names, but we do have coding standards that most of the time I have to adhere to. When it comes to naming stuff in our unit tests however...........

I know......this entire thread is entirely too geeky.

 

[bfollowell]

And the name of this book is?

Wow, guess I was a little to excited there and forgot the main point.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571-ready-player-one

I don't know if I'll read this one or not but you did get me interested enough that I looked into a little further. I also noticed that my local library has this one available as an ebook so I may try it on my Kindle in a month or two, whenever Amazon & Overdrive get the whole library ebooks on the Kindle thing working.

If no one has heard, there was a bidding war for the publishing rights and the day after Mr. Cline sold the publishing rights, he sold the film rights to Warner Bros. with Cline attached to write the screenplay.

- Byron

 

[label]

If no one has heard, there was a bidding war for the publishing rights and the day after Mr. Cline sold the publishing rights, he sold the film rights to Warner Bros. with Cline attached to write the screenplay.

Yeah, one of the first things I thought of when I finished it was how it would make an awesome movie that could easily be on par with how cool the Matrix was when it first came out just because of how the action takes place...........especially the final battle scene......it'd challenge any mammoth Star Wars battle scenes for epic coolness.....

 

[sfroth]

I try and do that fairly often though there are a few stick in the mud's at work that don't like to have anything funny in our code base. For instance, I was catching an exception, doing something with it and then throwing it back up the stack and so I wrote code like this:

try
{
Do.Something();
}
catch(Exception up)
{
ExceptionLogger.Log(Up);
throw up;
}

OK, I am so much stealing that the next time I have to throw an exception!

 

[Sakrysta]

As an aside, the audio book is also available narrated by Wil Wheaton. Wil is good friends with the author and was hugely excited about the book and his opportunity to do the audio.

Also, the author is going on a book-signing tour in this:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNq16w3NyoA&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/yt]

 

[DrCorby]

I heard about this book on NPR, and read an excerpt on their website. Seems like an interesting idea (although the excerpt did have an example of the author's in-your-face atheism the OP mentioned). If my local library has a copy, I think I'll give it a try.