Evan Puschak is the creator of the YouTube channel The Nerdwriter, known for their video essays. This is his debut novel/essay collection. This reads like his diary more than his polished video work. These are just my musings and stream of consciousness responding to these essays. They may ramble and veer off track. That's just how it's gonna be, sorry.

Emerson's Magic

The opening story about skating through school, not absorbing but regurgitating for good grades, couldn't hit closer to home. I hated school but I did school well. College was what other people told me to do, and it was painfully outdated. The internet saved me, teaching me everything I needed for my actual education while college gave me nearly nothing of value. But I got that paper that says I can finish what I start. That's not to say I didn't have a love of learning. I did. I do. Just not for the trash they required.

It's poignant when the essay argues that others often articulate our feelings better than we ever could. But is it truth, or is it just that they put more thought into it than we bother to put into our own?

Emerson clearly had a big impact on Evan, and his fingerprint will reemerges throughout these writings.

I Think the Internet Wants to Be My Mind

Interesting concept: these companies give us screen time monitoring and recommendations as a way to shame us for using their amazing equipment. But I disagree with this chapter's overall thesis that they're responsible and screen time is bad. Not all screen time is equal, and the user should maintain more culpability in how they use it. Learning videos, history documentaries, chatting with family countries away, those are good uses. The real villain is doom scrolling social media.

The cats analogy is where it gets genuinely interesting. Thinking about how the hive mind will react to something rather than what I actually think about it is a trap I fall into constantly. Not just online either. I've blunted opinions in real life arguments about movies because I could gauge the room before I opened my mouth. Stop it. Like what you like. Dislike what you don't. And maybe revisit things in different moods before locking in.

My opinion, reduce pointless screen time, form your own opinions, talk to your friends critically about what you consume, better yourself.

Comforts of Cyberpunk

Basic breakdown of the cyberpunk timeline and its inspirations. Mostly a Blade Runner analysis, which has been done to death. Not a lot of new ground here.

When Experts Disagree

Now more than ever we have to question "experts." So how do we do it properly? Question the desired result. Will this help someone, is it saving something, does it err on the side of possibilities? Then it's probably worth looking into more.

Flip side...who gets enriched, is there a trickle-down, is money involved? You're probably being manipulated. Politics, same thing. Both sides are wrong. No, really, both sides have fakes, monsters, and morons. Which side is actively trying to make life better? Support that one. Which side is posturing, grifting, and self-aggrandizing? See, simple.

Is climate change real? Not worth debating. Can we turn off a light bulb to play it safe? Yes. Should cruise liners be stopped? Yes.

Escape Into Meaning

Not a LotR fan. I won't disparage it. I'll just leave those sections of this chapter alone out of respect for those who are.

I do subscribe completely to the philosophy underneath it though. No destiny, no fate, no guiding force. If that were true, what's the point of any of this? It's like when X-Men or Superman comics show the future. It kills the stakes immediately. Don't even get me started on multiverses. We're all just ignorant meat sacks on this plane of existence trying to get by. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it sucks, but no force is pulling us in any one direction. I hope.

Same goes for the section on beliefs. Pretty much every statement lands. Yes, aliens exist. No, they probably haven't visited us. Positive momentum, family, real friendships. All of it rings true.

Ode to Public Benches

More of a personal reflection. It didn't call to me. Moral of the story: get out there and diversify your socializing.

Thinking in Oeuvres

Analyzing Tarantino isn't anything new. The man's a freak and a genius. An oddball and an artist. But his self-professed plan to retire after 10 films? That's a carny wrestling promo, nothing more. Never say never. Nobody is really retired until they're dead. Tarantino will make an 11th film at some point.

The analysis of revenge as the ultimate engine of Tarantino's filmography does raise one question though, "who exactly is Quentin so hell-bent on getting revenge on himself"?

Superman Is Clark Kent

I've always disagreed with the idea that Superman is boring or unrelatable. He's an orphan. Abandoned by his family, alone in a world that would turn on him if it knew his secrets. He's not invulnerable either, not really. It takes a lot to hurt him, sure, but he has family and friends to protect. He's got world-ending catastrophe constantly threatening to derail his life and someone always trying to hold him down. He also grew up working class, with loving parents.

Now what about Bruce Wayne? Billionaire, beautiful, unlimited resources. Just because he's human doesn't make him more relatable. Those who can't see Clark as relatable aren't looking deep enough.

Nothing illustrated that better than Smallville. The onus is on the writers to make Superman relatable, because the bones of the character already are.

Jerry Seinfeld's Intangibles

Loved the Seinfeld show. But let's be honest, Seinfeld the stand-up comedian is subpar and as an actor he's D tier. The chemistry of the cast and the wit of Larry David combined to make something special.

That's the real story.

On Friendship

A personal exploration of social groups that drifts into World War II and Freud. More rambling than chewable.

Write a Book

The final chapter is a reflection on Puschak's own journey to writing this book, the ups and the downs, the push to the finish line. He uses it as a self-reflection vessel and explores how to turn bad days into productive ones. In written form, compared to his YouTube channel, without the edit bay, he lets himself wander. Sometimes that's a feature, sometimes it's a bug. But to get to the point of an earlier chapter, YOU decide if that works.