Book Review: Chris Hardwick's "The Nerdist Way"

I used to watch Chris Hardwick on the MTV show "Singled Out" with him and Jenny McCarthy. Then about 4 years ago I noticed he was back on the stand up comedy scene. He had seemed to have given up on his frat boy roots and was performing regularly at many of the "Alternative" rooms in Los Angeles.  These rooms are like Kryptonite to me, with their topical and intellectual humor these "comedy nerds" will shun you unless most of your punch lines reference Ben Franklin or Eli Whitney.  I was a little hurt that my Chris Hardwick, the sarcastic syndicated dating show host had turned to the "dark side." ... but I still decided to read his book because reading autobiographies is the closest I'll ever get to taking people's souls.

The book is actually pretty cool, it's written exclusively for "Nerdists".  A "Nerdist" is someone he describes as a modern day evolution of a stereotypical "Nerd".  Basically anyone who grew up getting picked on for liking stuff like Dungeons and Dragons and not showering. I was never a nerd, but to this day I still obsess over things like, Guns N Roses, Friday the 13th movies, WWE and Bigfoot, so I have some of the qualities of someone who would pay for sex.   The book is for all of these nerds who grew up and weren't able to reach their full "Bill Gates" potential.  It's about taking the focus that was used to excel on things like Video Games and whacking off, and using that same focus for self improvement. 

The book has a lot of helpful way's to start picking yourself up and working towards a better life.  I'll be using a lot of them to help myself reach some goals for 2012 so I'm definitely glad I read it.   Chris seems like a cool dude that is very self aware and is trying to help out some people.  The book is totally worth reading.  Self help books are great because they get people off their asses, even if only for an hour. But I guess anything is better than nothing.   

The book in stores now, and will also be available at the "99 cent store" in the year 2016, right next to the calendars.