For this book, I went even farther away from my steady diet of Cisco Press books. Ready Player One is a great read. I’m thankful that I took the time to read this book before seeing the movie. TL;DR the book is better.

The book is set in a dystopian future where a virtual reality environment has become a reality for most of the population. Seeking to avoid the real world collapse around them, many people spend their time in the OASIS. The main character Wade Watts along with thousands of others are trying to find an Easter egg in the OASIS to win the inheritance left by its creator.

If you’re a child of the 80s, you will find yourself walking down memory lane throughout Ready Player One. The path to the Easter egg consists of several puzzles related to the 80s pop culture. Personally I had a blast trying to unravel the clues myself. Several times I had to stop and look up some of the more obscure references from the early 80s. What other books can you go from driving the DeLorean from Back to the Future to the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars and end up playing a game of Pac-Man?

Final Thoughts

It’s rare that I get so into a book that I lose track of time, but there were several times that I stayed up way too late reading this book. If you’ve already seen the movie, read the book, it’s better. If you’ve not seen the movie, read the book, then the movie. The movie isn’t bad, but the book is better. Need to get a copy? Click the book image above. I’m reading Ernest Cline’s second book Armada. It’s in the same vein as Ready Player One and I’ll be writing about it soon.