A review by kmg365
Luke Skywalker Can't Read: And Other Geeky Truths by Ryan Britt

3.0

I find it interesting that in the 21st century, people are able to make a living by expressing opinions about fannish things. This was not a career option when I was of an age to decide what I wanted to be “when I grew up” (still waiting, btw). Sure, I could have been a literary critic, or a movie critic. But there were no listings like “Explainer of what was wrong with the episode Spock’s Brain ” in the help wanted section of the classified ads.

I’m mildly miffed that you can now do exactly that. Before anyone suggests there’s nothing stopping me now—you’re wrong. There are a lot of things stopping me.

Those were the thoughts lurking in the back of my mind as I listened to the essays in this book. While the author does mention at one point the fannish tendency to complain about anything and everything, believing that the only true and correct opinion of any tv show, book, or movie is one that is identical to one’s own, at the same time, he advances his own opinions about various fannish franchises with an assumption that he’s occupying the intellectual high ground.

I enjoyed the parts dealing with classic Trek, and was surprised that anyone as young as the writer would consider TOS his original fandom—the thing that turned him into a fan in the first place. I’m still not sold on the idea that Luke can’t read, though. He simply represents a society that doesn’t value literature—much like the one I find myself living in now.