Nerd Audiobook By Maya Phillips cover art

Nerd

Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse

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Nerd

By: Maya Phillips
Narrated by: Maya Phillips
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In the vein of You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) and Black Nerd Problems, this witty, incisive essay collection from New York Times critic at large Maya Phillips explores race, religion, sexuality, and more through the lens of her favorite pop culture fandoms.

From the moment Maya Phillips saw the opening scroll of Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, her life changed forever. Her formative years were spent loving not just the Star Wars saga, but superhero cartoons, anime, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Tolkien, and Doctor Who—to name just a few.

As a critic at large at The New York Times, Phillips has written extensively on theater, poetry, and the latest blockbusters—with her love of some of the most popular and nerdy fandoms informing her career. Now, she analyzes the mark these beloved intellectual properties leave on young and adult minds, and what they teach us about race, gender expression, religion, and more.

Spanning from the nineties through to today, Nerd is a collection of cultural criticism essays through the lens of fandom for everyone from the casual Marvel movie watcher to the hardcore Star Wars expanded universe connoisseur. “In the same way that the fandoms Phillips addresses often provide community and a sense of connection, the experience of reading Nerd feels like making a new friend” (Karen Han, cultural critic and screenwriter). Geeky Media Studies Popular Culture Social Sciences Star Wars Fantasy Witty Superhero

Critic reviews

"Media critic Maya Phillips narrates her own memories and knowledge of fantasy, superheroes, sci-fi, and anime through a millennial lens. Her life as a New Yorker, as well as a Black woman, allows her to offer a unique perspective when examining certain aspects of nerd culture."
All stars
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Phillips' beautiful book is a real nostalgia trip, taking me, no doubt like many readers, back to the magical Saturday mornings of my childhood, back to after-school adventures in worlds of infinite imagination, and beyond. Her book is so much more though. Part memoir, recounting her own experience with nerd culture and fandom, it also serves as an important contribution at a time when the politics of representation constantly incite the "fandom menace" in wars of gatekeeping and exclusion. Phillips reminds us that imagination is for everyone, and by extension, she challenges pop culture to do better in terms of depicting race, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, and the like. Likewise, she challenges all nerds and geeks to do better at making space for historically underrepresented fans, online, at cons, and wherever else we may find an excuse to collectively nerd out about our favorite sci-fi, comics, anime, or movies. This highly enjoyable read--I read it in a single day when it was first released--should be required reading for every nerd.

More Than A Beautiful Nostalgia Trip

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