Clever and funny. I enjoyed this book and the author more than I expected. I've always considered myself a nerd, but this book solidifies that truth!

I enjoyed this collection of essays. It was a good mix of memoir and social commentary. There were some essays that were too long and took a while to get through, especially when it was a fandom that I wasn’t very familiar with. Overall, it was a fun and insightful read. I found most of the references nostalgic and relatable.

It’s a really in depth sort of history of how nerd fandom and culture evolved into eras. It’s more of a personal essay of nerd impact on the author. Though a downside of the essay is that sometimes it just feels like a recap explanation for those who may have not lived in the time rather than a critique for the people who lived and would be the audience for this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

It always seems to surprise me how history and identity have shaped a lot of modern fandom, despite having lived through a lot myself, and I love seeing another fan pour their love and passion into an analysis of culture that is shared by so many. I remember ten to fifteen years ago, fandom was something ridiculed, but the Internet has brought so many of us together that it seems we were able to connect in faster and more comprehensible way since the zines of the old days.

Reading 'Nerd' felt like having the longest, bestest conversation about fandom with a friend. Though there are many ways in which Phillips and I are different, the parallels between her relationship with nerd culture and my own were striking. I think there's a particular understanding that women have with each other when it comes to being part of fandoms. It's so complex and multi-faceted that I could never do it justice. But Philips does in this work, which touches not just on gender, but also race. I loved reading this and would recommended it to my fellow nerds who want to feel Seen.

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I started this but I really enjoyed it.

Nerd is a collection of essays where Maya Phillips examines fandom and how she (and society as a whole) has used fandom as a way to examine race, gender, religion, queerness, and so many other facets of society.

While Phillips' knowledge of pop culture and a wide variety of fandoms was much more expansive than my own (anime in particular is something I'm only coming to appreciate as an adult), I still found her analysis to be insightful. Be warned though, there are spoilers for all kinds of arcs and stories so if you don't want to be spoiled for something maybe skip that section. That being said, a lot of the fandoms she's referencing have been out for quite some time and/or are major touchstones in modern pop culture so do with that what you will.

I do think that some of the essays grew to be a little long for my taste and was initially confused about how each essay related (other than being about fandom); however, there were elements of each that I really enjoyed and/or related to. I particularly liked her analysis of queerness and sexuality in anime and her essays on mental illness and gods/faith/belief systems. I found her writing to be very approachable and liked how she encapsulated the growth and change in fandom over the years, especially with the rise of mega fandoms like the MCU and the Star Wars extended universe.

Nerd is an insightful, poignant read about what it means to be a nerd, and how our nerdiness defines us and how we see the world. Maya Phillips crosses multiple genres and fandoms to eloquently deliver her observations on our society through the nerd lens. Every school with a media studies or fine arts program should have a copy of this book.

Nerd is a fantastic tribute to fandom, with essays that spark. Maya Phillips crafts fun and thoughtful insights into popular culture.

Thanks so much to Atria Books and NetGalley for the allowing me to read and review an ARC of Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from this Universe to the Multiverse.

Maya Phillips’s book Nerd is a series of essays that takes a deep dive into the world of fandoms, touching on so many aspects from mythology to tropes to gender to race to spiritual and much more. Phillips has an easy writing style and even managed to keep me interested when discussing fandoms I had little to no knowledge about. If you possess even a hint of inner geek, don’t be afford to embrace it.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nerd-maya-phillips/1140376946?ean=9781982165772&bvnotificationId=67f684b1-497a-11ed-bd78-0a9125617f5d&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/219599252

A huge Thank You to The author, The publisher and NetGalley for providing the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
Such a good book! An all time classic for me!

I love books about fandoms and pop culture, so I was so excited to receive this book.
While I did think that most of the essays seemed rather lengthy and sometimes repetitive, Maya knows her pop culture! I like how she showed which movies and TV shows were important to her in different parts of her life. I related a lot to Maya and really connected with her writing style. I would definitely read more from her.

A really interesting foray into fandom and what it means to a person. I liked all the cultural references and personal insight into the author's own fandom.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I love books about fandoms and pop culture, so I was so excited to receive this book.
While I did think that most of the essays seemed rather lengthy and sometimes repetitive, Maya knows her pop culture! I like how she showed which movies and TV shows were important to her in different parts of her life. While I am very much a "nerd," there were some shows and movies that she discusses and references that I had never seen or heard of, so it was hard for me to relate to those.

#netgalleyarc As someone who hovers outside of the fandoms of her interest, this was an interesting read. The author clearly did a lot of research and tied in her own personal experiences and feelings. An interesting read for some one who has interests in topics were fandoms exist.

A delve into the world of nerddom. I was hoping for more analysis here but in places it largely felt like a fan letter to the author’s fandoms. It didn’t quite hit in the way I thought it would.

A wonderful collection of essays.A look into the world of fandoms.I recently read about the fanatic world of Jane Austen fandoms so was really interested in reading more about the obsessive people who occupy these groups.So well written so engaging. #netgalley #atriabooks.

I have been a part of fan culture ever since I was little watching Brandon Routh's Superman while on a family vacation. The memory of watching that movie with all of my cousins is seared into my brain and one of my first encounters with superheroes. Needless to say, I have been a fan of nerd things and fandoms ever since.

When I was scrolling through Netgalley, this book caught my eye. Not just the title, or the cover, or the various fonts, but what I knew the book would hold. Nerd is an insightful collection of essays covering everything you could imagine in terms of fan culture. Sometimes the essays were a bit lengthy, but they were fascinating. I recognized at least 75% of the shows/movies/comics referenced in the book so I guess it was a good fit for me.

Nerd gave me such intense childhood nostalgia that I have not experienced in years. I also appreciated all the insight into Maya Phillips' life. It was interesting seeing how our experiences overlapped. This was an enlightening and entertaining collection of essays.

Thank you to Netgalley for early access in exchange for a review. Check out Nerd when it comes out on October 11th.

Nerd comes out on October 11, 2022; Atria Books provided me an early galley to review.

Even though I am old enough to be her father, I could relate very much to the nine essays in Maya's book. That speaks very much to the commonality of the nerd culture, despite which generation we were born into. She talks about things that my friends and I would talk about all the time, especially when we'd get together for Comic-Con in San Diego for a week of nerd-festivities. And her passion is the same kind that we'd exhibit.

I enjoyed her writing style a lot. It is relaxed, welcoming and relatable. She is the kind of person who wants to talk about her favorites yet also comes across as someone who'd listen as you talk about your favorites too. That's the sign of true nerd culture - respecting what others bring to the table too. Unlike other similar essay collections I've read, she chooses to create longer pieces that group various fandom properties together into overall thematic subjects. I think that provides for a more solid reading experience.

As her work illustrates, the culture of nerd fandom has moved over the past few decades from a fringe thing to a multi-million-dollar pillar of the entertainment communities. Sci-fi and superheroes are not just for the social misfits of the world; these genres are the backdrops to telling amazing stories of emotion, growth and conflict. They have become staples just in the way that westerns and police/detective shows and movies did in the 1960's. Basically, the rest of the world has come to realize what we nerds have known for most of my lifetime: a good story is a good story.

In the end, I learned about a few things for which I only knew previously by name recognition. That means I have some new (to me) things to check out in the future. Thank you, Maya.

What an insightful and eloquent, if at times a little lengthy, selection of essays examining what it means to be a fan, from buying packs of cards to watching Saturday morning cartoons to confronting the darker sides of media messaging. If you're interested in a wide array of fandoms, spanning genres and formats, from Digimon to Firefly and even old classic westerns, there's something for you here in Maya Phillips' Nerd.

I think the author and I are of an age, so the references to Pokemon after school and Cowboy Bebop on Adult Swim at night were big "omg yes" moments of relatability. I recognized probably 80% of the shows and movies mentioned here, so the book was a good fit. Readers certainly must be open to criticism of their faves.

I've also not read such detailed examination of bulwarks of my childhood nostalgia anywhere else, save perhaps Twitter threads. I was very impressed by a solid Sailor Moon analysis through the lens of gender and sexuality. And it was refreshing to read someone hit spot-on the things I have found increasingly uncomfortably in anime: hypersexualization of female characters (who are often underage) with a male gaze in mind.

I appreciated a lot of the insights unique to Phillips' identity, too. The section on how to tackle cosplay as a Black fan felt so timely, and the addressing of cultural appropriation and problematic racial depictions in anime were fascinating. Her place in the white nostalgia fandoms of Jane Austen and other period romances was a sobering few paragraphs, Austen super-fan that I am myself.

Parts did start to feel over-long, especially in fandoms I wasn't very 'fluent' in. The Harry Potter section I completely skipped, I'll admit. I am not interested in any analysis of that stuff anymore. If you're not a fan of spoilers I would definitely recommend skipping passages that mention a title of potential interest - most are examined in depth and you will be spoiled, perhaps even put off of a show or movie.

But otherwise this was an enlightening, entertaining and savvy look at some of my favorite fandoms.