Still, widespread prejudice against "Star Trek" fans and those with high SAT scores remains. American culture purports to encourage achievement in math and science but instead sends a more complex, mixed message.
Here in Boston - nerd central - it may be easier to survive as a studious, socially awkward and unselfconscious geek. Not so in the rest of America, where many young adults exhibiting nerd tendencies face persecution. Plumbing the reasons for anti-geek prejudice is David Anderegg's somewhat goofily titled "Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them."
A psychology professor at Bennington College who has a private psychotherapy practice in Lenox, Anderegg has written a spirited and thoughtful introduction to this culture war: the jocks or "pops" (popular kids) vs. the nerds. Anderegg's analysis begins by identifying key nerd traits, which can brand kids during their most approval-seeking, conformist stage, namely cutthroat middle school. According to his "Five Foundations of Nerdiness," nerds are "(a) unsexy, (b) interested in technology, (c) uninterested in their personal appearance, (d) enthusiastic about stuff that bores everyone else, and (e) persecuted by nonnerds who are sometimes known as jocks."
Then, alternating between interviews with children and historical, medical, and sociological evidence, Anderegg debunks the stereotypes and uncovers society's hypocrisy. We shun the Tolkien or calculus fanatic but tolerate the husband whose interest in model trains, fantasy football leagues, or fly-tying (or, for that matter, Grand Theft Auto) borders on zealotry. The author makes it clear that the formerly pervasive American role model of a both strong and smart Odysseus type has devolved into a brawn-against-brains battle: Man of Action (Andrew Jackson, Superman, the affable and joky George Bush) vs. Man of Reflection (John Quincy Adams, Clark Kent, the annoying know-it-all Al Gore). Guess who wins?
