“Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline is the perfect book for every geek, gamer, and everyone who grew up in the 1980s wanting to wax nostalgic.

This book was slow at parts and some people who are more nostalgic about the 80s than I am, probably would better appreciate some of the cultural references of video games, music, TV shows and classic movies. While I was born in the 1980s, I really “grew up” in the 1990s. Even though the reference precede me to some extent, this book was a very fun read about gamer culture and a cautionary sci-fi, dystopian thriller about the destructive effects of capitalism that further values revenue over human rights.

I enjoyed the futuristic description of an all-virtual life where one logs in to the OASIS, a virtual reality universe, where users spend more time online in the virtual reality compared to the time spent logged out in the real world. One main theme throughout the book include privacy issues and anonymity as a form of security and protection. The other theme explored is the issue of open-source versus pay-to-play format and the effects of privatization on these systems.

The book was much better than Steven Spielberg’s adaptation to film. Even if you have seen that mediocre film, I’d recommend reading the book as it is significantly better (and different).

Get a copy of “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline from Amazon here.