Ernest Cline. READY PLAYER ONE

Wow! What a ride! This is definitely one of the coolest books I've read in a while. It's an action-packed, science fiction book bursting with 80's culture.

Wade Watts is living in the year 2044, and the world is a pretty depressing place. Hunger, disease, poverty are rampant. Wade is living with his aunt, since his parents both died. However, she's not exactly loving. She only took him in to get extra food vouchers. He also has to hide his meager possessions or his aunt's bully boyfriend will snag them to pawn. The trailer they live in is stacked about twenty high in a strange ghetto like community called "the stacks."

So, you can see that escaping the real world is the number one priority for Wade. Since it's 2044, the escape is a pretty elaborate virtual reality called the OASIS. The OASIS is a virtual world created by a legend game designer. The world is filled with planets, each with a variety of fun to be had. You can go on quests and other video game adventures or you can simply live, shop and socialize.

When the legendary designer James Halliday dies, he leaves an unusual will and testament. The entire world watches as the video is played of Halliday launching the most epic "easter egg" hunt ever. He explains that he's hidden three keys in OASIS. When a gamer reaches the keys, they will reveal clues to ultimately reach the egg. The reward for reaching the egg first is his entire fortune. This creates a whole culture of egg hunters, called "gunters" hunting after this easter egg. Wade Watts is the one to find the first key.

Halliday was obsessed with 80's, since that's when he grew up. So all the gunters study the TV, movies, comic books, mangas, and most of all, the video games of the decade. Halliday most certainly will require knowledge of 80's culture to decipher the clues needed to reach the egg.

I dare anyone who grew up in the 80's to read this and not be totally hooked! The references are hilarious and totally recognizable. Plus, the OASIS virtual world created is fascinating. Sometimes you forget that the character is inside an imaginary world. It's mind-bending to think that while Wade is traveling to different planets (some designed to look like science fiction worlds like Arrakis, Star Trek, Middle Earth) that he's doing it all in a fake world.

This is not only action-packed, but also intriguing to consider whether some of this technology may be in our future. The 80's culture made me smile and laugh out loud. The history of arcade video games was also fascinating. It brought back memories of playing Pac-Man and Defender at the skating rink. The whole book feels vaguely familiar, but also strikingly original. The author did a brilliant job of weaving the 80's culture without it taking over or becoming gimmicky. It's truly a part of the story in an authentic way.

Trust me, you will LOVE this. You won't be able to put it down! And after reading, you'll be dying to take a trip to the arcade. For real.

It is an adult book. In fact, it won the ALA ALEX Award, which is an award for adult books that appeal to older teens.

Check out the book trailer. I think it evokes some of the "old school" feel. Although, I wish it was a little longer and included some of the 80's music from the book. Check out the author's website here.

Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler. THE FUTURE OF US

It's 1996 and Emma gets her first computer. Her friend, Josh, brings over an AOL CD-Rom, so she can check out the Internet. After setting up her password and logging on, something strange happens. Emma sees something called Facebook. It shows a picture of someone looking eerily like her, but a little older. She begins reading the text underneath her name and is freaked out.

Emma and Josh investigate and deduce that they must be looking into the future - 15 years to be exact. They look at both of their future selves, and while Josh is thrilled to be married to the Sydney Mills, a gorgeous girl he's had a crush on for years, Emma is depressed about her future.

Emma begins to try to change things with her future. She begins looking at the Facebook page every day to see how her little changes affect her future. Josh worries that even looking at the future will change things in a negative way. (Easy for him to say, since he's the one with the sunny future.) Will they be able to forget about their future selves enough to focus on enjoying the here and now?

This is one of those books that had me at the premise. I was highly curious to see how the authors would handle this concept. At first, I was a little annoyed by the constant 90's references. We got Discman, Friends, Alanis Morissette, Seinfeld, the brick wall screensaver, Windows 95 all in practically one chapter. I felt a little hit over the head with "it's 1996! it's 1996!" But, that passed quickly, and there was nary a mention of the late 90's again in the book. Perhaps, I'm the only one bothered by that? I'm not sure how teens will react. As I see my students reading the book, I'll get a feel whether they noticed that aspect or not. They probably won't.

Otherwise, I enjoyed the book. I think the concept was executed smoothly. If you're a techie, you need to suspend your disbelief about how the computer was able to connect to Facebook (think of it as science fiction). Then you'll enjoy it. The idea of the little decisions you make today affecting the rest of your life has always fascinated me. So, I enjoyed seeing how it played out for Emma and Josh.

This is a fun read! You know Jay Asher from THIRTEEN REASONS WHY and Carolyn Mackler from many great books including THE EARTH, MY BUTT AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS.

Check out the trailer below:

Michael A. Banks. ON THE WAY TO THE WEB

Yes, I rarely blog about nonfiction books. But this one really captured my attention. I’ve always been fascinated with computer and Internet history.
Especially when I found out people were online & communicating long before most of us. We tend to think the history of something begins when we encounter it for the first time (sort of egotistical of us).

Anyway, here are some cool facts that I discovered in this book:

*Many people think that the Internet was created to communicate during a nuclear strike – not so.

*People were using Internet forums in the early 80’s

*In 1980, big name newspapers went online in an experiment

*The first novel uploaded to the Internet (before the book was even published) was Ender’s Game in 1983

*Online games were in use the mid 80’s

*The first public Internet service provider opened in 1989

Wow! Can you believe all that was going on in the 80’s & more!

Most of people think of the Internet and the Web as interchangeable terms, but the World Wide Web really began with Tim Berners-Lee and his HTML, which he developed in 1990.

Anyway, there were way more people and companies involved with the evolution of the Internet than most of us realize. This book details all of the main points along the way. And it has a great foreword by Orson Scott Card.

If you are at all curious about the development & history of the Internet, you’ll love this book. There is also a timeline and glossary at the back.

It’s fascinating!

Plus, on the website there is a long list of early 80’s commercials for Internet service providers, like Prodigy and other services like DELPHI and playnet. It’s really fun watching those old videos. Don’t you love going back in time!

If you're interested in not only the history of the Internet & WWW, but also how it has looked over the years, check out some of these sites:
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
http://www.dejavu.org/
http://www.livinginternet.com/