Herewith, a brief anecdote about the unifying power and mystery of classic science fiction.
On the day his new book More Information Than You Require was released, John Hodgman spoke and read to an appreciative crowd, accompanied by the songwriter laureate of the geek world, Jonathan Coulton. I was privileged enough to attend, and I can assure you, Coulton deserves every bit of the praise and adulation he gets but this right here is Hodgman’s post*.
Hodgman’s book, after all, is the second volume of his compendium of COMPLETE WORLD KNOWLEDGE, which has the advantage over other such compendiums of being completely made up by the author, John Hodgman. For me (and the average Tor.com reader, I suspect), this is a particular advantage because, in addition to being hilarious in both tone and content, Hodgman knows his sci-fi stuff.
The very first chart in his earlier almanac, The Areas of My Expertise, is a Lycanthropic Transformation Timetable, with an attached table of charm potency (silver items: high; taming love of a pure woman: modest), and it gets geekier from there. I particularly enjoy his ongoing secret history of the U.S.A., including an informative entry on the 51st state, Hohoq (also known as Ar), “a large, cloud-encircled plateau that moves mysteriously from place to place throughout America, and frequently goes completely unobserved for decades.” The state motto? “Please do not seek us.”
It’s clear that the sudden fame, wealth, and prestige that come with being a bestselling author and minor television personality (he’s the PC on those Mac ads, as well as the Daily Show’s “Resident Expert”) have not dulled his appreciation for nerdier fare. Amid references to Watchmen and Battlestar Galactica (“not the first version, the new one,” he clarified, “the one where the robots are erotic—finally“), Hodgman told this story about an experience he had recently, now that he gets to fly first class:
[I was sitting next to] the director and actor Peter Berg. You might know him as the director of this summer’s hit film, Hancock. And I wasn’t going to say anything to him, you know, because we’re cool up in first class, but we were sitting on the tarmac for two and a half hours, and I didn’t have anything to read or do. And that’s when Peter Berg reached into his bag and pulled out a copy of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert. So I said to Peter Berg, I couldn’t help myself, I was like, “Wow! I wish I had brought a copy of the novel Dune by Frank Herbert to read on this flight. That’s the perfect thing to do!” And Peter Berg smiled at me, and he pointed at his knapsack, and he said, “You want one? I’ve got two copies.”
That’s what my life is like now.
Watch any or all of this appearance, as well as performances from many other authors and musicians, at the Barnes & Nobles Studio.
*Hodgman also gets praise, of a slightly different nature. As Ricky Gervais writes, “Hodgman is funny, clever, and has the face of a giant baby.”
Mr. Hodgman is a genius. The Areas of My Expertise is utterly brilliant, and the audio edition is one of my most regular listens. Plus, it got me into the work of Mr. Coulton as a bonus.
I have the hard copy of the new one, but I don’t think the package will be complete until I have the audio as well. I’m trusting that Amazaon’s release date of Dec. 31st 2025 is not accurate.
Hrm… sounds like *somebody’s* website is improperly revealing some defaults!
@Okorikuma: Was your first experience of Hodgman’s book the free audio edition that Audible gave away on iTunes, too? That was one of the better marketing moves they could have made – definitely was what sold me this recent hard cover, anyway.
I also saw that Hodgman is planning a third and final book, entitled THAT IS ALL. It’s a trilogy! If that doesn’t say SF/F-influenced, I don’t know what does.
@JStarr: Sort of. I worked at a bookstore when it came out, and got the galley. I sort of did the “open to random page, laugh my ass off, forget about it for a while” thing. I was too lazy to actually read it through, but I did recommend it constantly, and managed to hand sell it at least once.
But yeah, the free download was what got me well and truly into it. At the time, I’d moved far from home (and away from the two boxes of books that were too expensive to ship) and didn’t have the hard copy. That was, what, Christmas 2006? And I’ve listened to the thing at least every other month since. You’re right, that’s ingenious marketing, because here I am quite happy to shell out $40+ or so for the follow ups to two things I got for free.
If Peter Berg is hauling two copies of Dune around, I can only wonder if this means he’s working on…something related to Dune. I realize this wild speculation is how rumors begin, but…how cool would that be?
@5: Hodgman specifically didn’t say what the reason was, mentioning offhandedly it was “a long story.” Well… hmm.
For those New Yorkers who don’t know, JH will be doing in instore appearance at a Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn later this week to promote the new book. I’m not sure if JC is joining him, however.