Nerds
Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them
was first published by Tarcher/Penguin in 2007.
The paperback edition, entitled
Nerds: How Dorks, Dweebs, Techies and Trekkies can Save America...and Why They Might Be Our Last Hope
was published in 2011.
"Anderegg's clear-eyed look at a damaging cultural truism does nerds and jocks - all Americans, really - a service." - The Washington Post
Here's a short video (4:21) of an interview with David Anderegg about this "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."
Click to read from the Preface to Nerds
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From the Preface to the paperback edition of Nerds:
When Nerds first appeared at the very end of 2007, I felt I was asking my readers to do a simple task: just look at this one ingrained American prejudice, and look at its effects. That's all. I wasn't asking readers to solve Fermat's Theorem, or to understand once and for all the mysteries of Keynesian economics. I just asked people to think about what we tell our children about those people we call "nerds," and think for a minute about what message we might be sending. I know; it seems naïve now, but that's how naïve I was back in 2007.
It turns out that asking people to examine prejudices is really hard. One reason it's hard is because prejudices are ubiquitous and therefore hard to examine. It's like asking people to look at air, or to look at negative space. It can be done, but it requires a little effort. American anti-intellectualism has been going on so long that people think of it as part of the American landscape, as immutable as the purple mountains' majesty. We all "know" the central fact of the nerd/geek stereotype: that smart people can't also be sexy, and sexy people can't also be smart. This is an untrue fact that we all know, but I try to point out that we all "know" it because someone taught it to us. Trying to get people to unlearn this untrue fact has proven to be more difficult than I imagined. But prejudices are feelings after all, and asking people to examine their prejudices calls up strong feelings...on all sides of the question.
In 2011, I was invited to give a talk about nerd and geek stereotypes at TEDx Brussels.
This video is 18:22 minutes long.
"An enlightening and highly entertaining look at a world that both shuns nerds and desperately needs more of them." - Seed magazine