Ready Player One, Ernest Cline. Paperback.

Cynical, clairvoyant, entertaining.

This fusion of video gaming and dystopia had me on the edge of my seat from the first few pages. It’s not difficult to imagine the world Cline so expertly crafts coming to fruition, especially when virtual reality apparatus Oculus Rift was created not long after this book was published.

Cline’s tone is just pessimistic enough, with a pinch of hopeless romantic. I think of this book often, working in media and technology and conducting the majority of my communications through some kind of screen. This novel holds up a mirror to our current society while offering a glimpse of what’s to come if we don’t put down the tablets once in a while and truly interact with the world around us.

It’s true that virtual reality allows us to explore our own and other worlds in new and exciting ways. However, as a recent trip to Vermont reminded me, gazing up at a star-filled sky can be even more astounding than whatever imaginary world a clunky headset can simulate.

Favorite Quotation: “People who live in glass houses should shut the fuck up.”