HHGG

Recently, several members of the #SQLFamily were discussing various aspects of geekdom.  We came to a consensus:  there are many among us who are self-proclaimed geeks who are only geeks because of the coolness factor.  Personally I decided to post a series of blog posts that espouse a minimum set of experiences that make up the persona of a true geek.  Granted there are many variations, but true geeks all have  a baseline set of experiences that I believe unite us all.  In other words, we all share a common set of core values that made us into the uber geeks that you see before you today.

The first installment of What Makes a Geek will be books.  Books shape a persons thoughts and personality from a young age.  This list is not comprehensive but like I mentioned earlier, it is a baseline.

• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (aka H2G2 or HHGG) – Every geek should know Forty-Two, DON’T PANIC, and knowing where one’s towel is.
• The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbitt by J.R.R. Tolkien (aka LOTR) – This one might fall of the list thanks to the popularity of the movies, but was a standard for years as evidenced by how many guys named themselves Gandalf and Frodo in chat rooms and online gaming environments.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson – bonus points are given if you played the video game released in the late 80s (I had it on a 5 1/4″ floppy)
• Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein – All books by Heinlein are awesome, but this is the definitive geek book.
• Anything from Isaac Asimov – I used to always say I, Robot, but the movie ruined that for me.  Every child should read Asimov, end of story.
• Any and/or all of the Star Wars and/or Star Trek novels – Geeks have strong opinions about these two universes and I am no different, however out of deference to my friends I will begrudgingly include Star Trek in the list.  This does not include the silly movie books, this is the full universe of novels which for Star Wars has over 100 currently.  My point is that watching the movies does not a geek make!

I know there are many more excellent geek books, however this is a list of baseline books.  Every geek should know these things, end of story.  “Share and Enjoy!”