This is definitely now my favorite Sound of Young America episode about the book “American Nerd: The Story of My People”. It sounds like an amazing book. I’ve always been especially interested in the word’s etymology.
Sadly he did not broach my favorite topic of how the boundaries of Nerd come up against the boundaries of Geek. I’ve always considered myself more of a geek. Benjamin Nugent takes a broader scope of what a nerd is but defines it in such an eloquent way that I am certainly not going to argue. He defines nerdyness as “People who are really good with and like systems, rules and rational systematizing way of thinking which remind people of machines.”