Jason and I read this book together. Anderegg's argument is that our cultural understanding of nerds---as obsessed with science, focused on things other than human relationships, wearing glasses, being bad dressers and having no sex---while less harmful on an adult level---as adults understand irony and sarcasm---is extremely dangerous to children since they take what adults say as the truth (no developed sense of irony). This, as a result, turns kids away from science, math and intense curiosity at a young age as nerds are seen as bad (since adults make fun of them) and therefore undesirable to be. While some kids overcome this in high school, some do not and as these kids become adults, it only deepens the anti-intellectualism in the US.
Anderegg makes a compelling argument for this based on a few studies, his own experiences as a child psychologist and the development of the idea of a nerd in American culture (all the way back to Bram Bones and Ichabod Crane). I definitely agree the cultural idea of a nerd is damaging to America, in that it stigmatizes knowledge, thereby affecting the competitive of our country in science, technology and economic areas. It also brings about a general science and math illiteracy, causing the general public to not understand the intricacies of the debates on global warming, IVF and stem cell research, thereby making the public more susceptible to positions based on slogans (drill, baby, drill) and knee-jerk ideology.
Anderegg finishes by offering some prescriptions to parents on how to get their young kids to understand that being a nerd is not bad or that nerd is not a real idea. I was sorry to see that he did not offer ideas for those of us currently in science and engineering fields on how to improve the perception in American culture.
Overall, an interesting read with insightful assessments of American culture.
7/10
