The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins

In a smart, entertaining, reassuring book that reads like fiction, Alexandra Robbins manages to cross Gossip Girl with Freaks and Geeks and explain the fascinating psychology and science behind popularity and "outcasthood." She reveals that the things that set students apart in high school are the things that help them stand out later in life. Robbins follows seven real people grappling with the uncertainties of high school social life, including: The Loner, who has withdrawn from classmates since they persuaded her to unwittingly join her own hate club; The Popular Bitch, a cheerleading captain both seduced by and trapped within her clique's perceived prestige; The Nerd, whose differences cause students to laugh at him and his mother to needle him for not being "normal"; The New Girl, determined to stay positive as classmates harass her for her mannerisms and target her because of her race; The Gamer, an underachiever in danger of not graduating, despite his intellect and his yearning to connect with other students; The Weird Girl, who battles discrimination and gossipy politics in school but leads a joyous life outside of it; The Band Geek, who is alternately branded too serious and too emo, yet annually runs for class president. In the middle of the year, Robbins surprises her subjects with a secret challenge -- experiments that force them to change how classmates see them. Robbins intertwines these narratives -- often triumphant, occasionally heartbreaking, and always captivating -- with essays exploring subjects like: the secrets of popularity; being excluded doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you; why outsiders succeed; how schools make the social scene worse -- and how to fix it. The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth is essential reading not just for students, teachers, parents, and anyone who deals with teenagers, but for all of us, because at some point in our lives we've all been on the outside looking in. - Jacket flap.

While the book had some interesting (if not cliche) stories about high schoolers from different corners of the cafeteria, I felt that I was too “old” for this book - I have already learned most of the lessons this book had to offer.

I think my dislike for this book is all because of the title. This title gives the impression that this book should have been something about how geeks and nerds are viewed in high school, and then how their skills that they face ridicule for now will benefit them later on in adult life. However, this author simply does not do that. Instead she examines seven people who are or were considered nerds in high school and attempts to make the case that they will do well with the skills they are developing now in adolescents. I say “attempts” because, other than giving out some random facts about celebrities who have been bullied, very few of the 200 pages I read (nearly half of the book) is dedicated to proving her thesis of how those labeled “nerds” benefit from their unusual interests.She instead tries to garnish sympathy for them by showing what jerks everyone is to them from parents, friends, classmates and even teachers. While this may have assisted in some people to go along with the story, I simply found it boring and dull after awhile. There were times I wanted to yell, “WE GET IT, KIDS ARE JERKS. MOVE ON!” but no matter how much I willed, the text just seemed to continue looking at seven of these students lives.

Now, one may think that, because there are seven students lives to explore, one could look at modern adolescent psychological theory and explore how these principles relate to the seven stories in question. Surely,this novel does that, right? Nope. Modern theories are mentioned in passing, if at all. instead, we see the author desperately try and sell her ‘Quirk Theory' to us, and even that seems to be done half heartedly. Her definition is mentioned in the beginning and not brought up again in almost half the book.

And that leads me to another point that I dislike: I think this is the wrong type of author for this subject. I wish that this author was someone who worked in psychology or sociology, but instead she has worked in journalism? Or perhaps business? I don't know anything about her because when I tried to visit her ‘About' page on her website, all I got was accolades for her other top selling books. Now, that is all fine and good, but I want to know what makes her qualified to speak on this topic, and I have no idea what makes her so. Normally, I'd say that anyone can write a book about anything, but I bet that most American's have gone to a public high school, and know how rough a place it can be, so what I would want to see is a more detailed, well-researched look into the psychological, sociological and dynamic ‘nerds' of high school, and this text completely misses that mark.

Then there are other little things that annoy me. Like how brands and styles of the popular kids are mentioned. It dates this book considerably. Also, for all the touting of how groups are evil in this book, this author does spend a lot of time on them. She discusses how the groups excluded her test subjects and how they often hurt more than they help. This fact is also simply not true. Groups are a part of identity, and a teenagers identity is shifting greatly during this time, so of course their group statuses are going to change and grow or shrink based on who they are and who they wish to be. However, this author would make you believe that groups are EVIL and are the scourge of high school social scene. Her subtle, yet constant impression regarding group behavior is boring and then gradually shifts to annoying as the book continues on.

Overall, I'm sorry that I had to label this as ‘Could not Finish' but I had no choice. This book just annoyed me to no end. If you want to explore something related to this, I'd suggest “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that can't Stop Talking” by Susan Cain. It is a much better book overall. If I were to rate this text, I'd give it a one out of five. Don't waste your time on it.