Ready Player One

Everyone has that song, movie, book, tv show that was “made for them”. This is my book. That should have been obvious from the synopsis, but I didn't believe it.

‘An adventure to find a dead man's treasure in the near-future's hybrid virtual reality of the Internet and an MMO role-playing game. Where solving the riddles and experiencing the world is done through a myriad of mostly-obscure 80's pop-culture references.”

I don't know why I put off reading it so long after hearing everyone I respect in media expressing their love for this book.

I can't recommend this highly enough for any child of the 80's like me who spent more time blowing into NES cartridges and watching every movie, good and “bad”, that HBO had to offer rather than going outside. From “Family Ties” to “Voltron”, this book touches on everything that makes you a nerd from the 80's and makes it so cool, that the future of the world is based around its obsession.

Minus the rampant poverty the book's world, I would champion this future whole-heartedly. I also think that this is the first book to make me shed a tear when (very minor spoiler) Wade meets Aech in real life. That is by far the best relationship in the book.

There's been word of a movie version of this since 2010 and I really hope they find a way to do it justice. Reading it with that in mind makes me realize how hard a movie this would be to just script, let alone make it with enough money for however they'd represent OASIS.

If you're between the ages of 30-45, start reading this book immediately.