Review: The Geek's Guide to Dating by Eric Smith

Title: The Geek's Guide to Dating

Author: Eric Smith

Publisher: Quirk Books

Publishing Date: December 3, 2013

Pages: 208

Genre: Humor, Non-fiction, self help, contemporary

Series: N/A

Source: Hardback

 

You keep your action figures in their original packaging. Your bedsheets are officially licensed Star Wars merchandise. You’re hooked on Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear but now you’ve discovered an even bigger obsession: the new girl who just moved in down the hall. What’s a geek to do? Take some tips from Eric Smith in The Geek’s Guide to Dating. This hilarious primer leads geeks of all ages through the perils and pitfalls of meeting women, going on dates, getting serious, breaking up, and establishing a successful lifelong relationship (hint: it’s time to invest in new bedsheets). Full of whimsical 8-bit illustrations, The Geek’s Guide to Dating will teach fanboys everywhere to love long and prosper.

This is a very funny, very relatable , and quite honestly, very helpful book. It is filled with references that every geek should get, and it makes things easy to understand for those who might be... lacking, in the social area.

What made me pick this book up?

I was actually going to read Geek Wisdom for the Summer Reading Challenge, but I saw this one at Barnes and Noble. And I was single, and I love geek, anything really. So I thought, why not. Combine dating tips and geekiness? Heck yes.

What do I like about the cover?

It is a very cute cover, filled with all the geeky things. I love the eight-bit and how it looks like donky kong. When you take off the paper cover, it has a cute cover as well. (I don't like to read my hardbacks with the cover on them)

What made me read it?

Like I said above, I love just about anything geeky. And I had read a bit of the book and thought that it looked really funny. 

What did I like the most?

There really wasn't anything at all I didn't like about it. I got all the geeky references, I learned what to, and what not, to do, when trying to get a date. It made me laugh a lot, and I think I learned just a bit of everyhing as well. My absolute favorite parts are most definitely the geeky references though, which made me realize what a true geek I really am. I am almost proud that I was able to get almost all the references. The way the chapters are laid out, are really great. It helps you see just what kind of geek you are, and what each geeks "super power" is. The book is mainly aimed towards males, but there is a section where the author explains it can be used as a females book as well, except the chapter about shaving. 

The least?

I honestly cannot think of a single thing that I did not like. 

Would you read the rest of the series/Other books by this author?

I actually really do want to read another book by this author, Inked

Overall, this was a very funny, very helpful, and very geeky book. Everyone at my job was laughing at me and curious as to what it was. Also, I had posted a photo on my instagram and the author replied, which is really super cool.

Eric Smith is the author of THE GEEK'S GUIDE TO DATING, out now via Quirk Books, and INKED, a YA novel out with Bloomsbury Spark.

His writing has appeared locally in the Philly Weekly, The Inquirer, and on Philly.com. He's written for the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Boing Boing, and is a regular contributor to BookRiot and Geekosystem.

His essays have appeared in the Bygone Bureau and The Apiary, and his first published piece will appear in THE ASTEROID BELT ALMANAC with the Hand & the Hand Press in April 2014.

He's the co-founder of Geekadelphia, a popular hyperlocal geek blog in Philly, and the Philly Geek Awards, a ceremony honoring local geeks in his city.

Eric holds a BA in English from Kean University and an MA in English from Arcadia University. He currently lives in Philly. You can find him on Twitter at @ericsmithrocks and @geekadelphia.