I finished a book and it was made of paper. They call it: READY PLAYER ONE, and it was set in�a world where people spent�more time living online than in real life. I picked it up because I was, like, whoa! I can’t imagine a life where people would prefer to interact with strangers online than friends and family in real life.�I’ll have to suspend disbelief�for this one!
James Donovan Halliday (1972-2039), born the same year as yours truly, spent most of his life playing, and then designing, video games. The OASIS, a massive online simulation used by billions of people in the dystopian future of 2044, was his masterpiece.��But Halliday, like Howard Hughes and Willy Wonka before him, had the social skills of a withering turnip.�He �lived alone, died alone, and in the end wanted his company–and OASIS–to go to someone who loved it as much as he did. Wade Watts, teenager, knew�he was that guy.
When Halliday died, his bequeathed the entirety of his estate, including The OASIS, to the person who could find the Easter Egg�he hid in The OASIS. To find�this Easter Egg, players had�to pass through 3 hidden gates and succeed in the challenges set up inside. �You also had to be insanely knowledgeable on all things having to do with the 80s. At first, everyone was a gunter: someone who hunted Halliday’s Egg. But after almost six years, interest waned and rumors circulated that it was all a hoax by Halliday in his last, delirious days. Then, Wade Watts found the fist gate. The book is about everything that happens next. Think Charlie and the�Chocolate Factory meets The Matrix.
I thought of my brother the entire time I read Ready Player One�and am�buying�him a copy for his birthday. It’s a fun, nostalgic (almost too much), and exciting homage to video games, pop culture, nerds, and the halcyon days of the 80s and early 90s. I suspect it’s a book best enjoyed by those of us who remember Pong, Legend of Zelda, and John Hughes movies the first time around.�Everyone else will enjoy the movie, which Steven Spielberg promises will be great.
p.s. If you read and enjoyed the book, check out the fan art. It’s amazing!
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