Chris HardwickCritiques

I didn't pick this up intending to get anything out of it besides some laughs from Chris Hardwick. He is the only reason I picked up this book. I like him on Talking Dead, which I stumbled on after getting hooked on The Walking Dead. Thank you, The Walking Dead! You have introduced me to one of my new favorite people.

I have probably never read a self-help book in my life. I've never felt like I needed one. But I appreciated many of the thoughts and advice offered in this book, and I ended up buying it to keep as a reference (my library copy was coming due).

Whether you consider yourself a nerd or not, the cool thing about this book is that it has something for everyone. Covering subjects like addiction, fitness, nutrition, money management, time management, and self-confidence, he talks about what worked for him in the pursuit of making his life better. He's very positive and encouraging, besides being laugh-out-loud funny.

Highly recommended.

One more thing-don't let any one section define the book for you. I almost stopped reading after the "RPG Your Life" section because it did not compute. I started to wonder if I would relate to anything in the book. I'm glad I stuck with it, because shortly after that section, I got to some good stuff for my brain.

I picked this up at my local library, thinking it would be like Felicia Day's "You're Never Weird On The Internet (Almost)". It wasn't and I was disappointed.
However, it is the perfect book (along with Aziz Ansari's "Modern Romance") for my 12 year old son. You see a lot of self-help books for young girls, on how to be amazing; but none for boys, on how to be a gentleman.

I have been a long-time listener of The Nerdist Podcast and have often heard Chris Hardwick discuss his philosophies of life and his book. When I saw his book at my local library, I decided to check it out (lol!)

It's hardly going to come as a surprise that nothing Hardwick presents is particularly revolutionary, but he does so in a way that captured my attention and made for a motivating read. The idea to gamify self-improvement through RPG techniques and building yourself as you would a D&D character was a good one. In fact, I could see using this book as a foundation and then employing a tool like Habitica to keep the momentum going long-term.

If you don't enjoy Chris Hardwick's energy or way of speaking, then I wouldn't recommend The Nerdist Way - it is very much written in his voice. Shocking, I know. That being said, I did enjoy reading it and found that it gave me extra drive to dig into the areas of my life I'd like to change.

October 22, 2014
The book was solid and had some good advice, though the writing style wasn't my favorite. I think I would have enjoyed it much more as an audiobook. I love listening to Hardwick talk, but his speech patterns just didn't translate as well into writing for me.

I would still recommend this book to someone looking for a self-help book that doesn't take itself too seriously. That was a refreshing change of tone.

I was surprised by how down-to-earth and practical this book is. I didn't realize it would be so directly a self-help book, and it really is helpful. Hardwick's voice is the same offbeat, profane, sarcastic humor that you would recognize from his TV and stand-up persona, and it is relentlessly appealing here, especially because it lends a self-effacing air to what could, in less skilled hands, come off as pretentiousness. I was expecting more memoir, but Hardwick includes plenty of his own life experiences to give authenticity to his advice, yet no more than he needs to do so.

I've read several self-help books in my time, but this one is more relatable than most, mainly because it comes from a nerdy place.

When I first saw this book show up in a few recommendation lists, I wasn't quite sure what it was. It showed up in lists with memoirs and biographies, so a part of me thought it would just be Chris Hardwick writing about himself. The title, however, made me think it could possibly be more about how Chris started Nerdist Industries and how he reached that point. Fortunately, it turned out to be the latter.

The book is divided into three sections; Mind, Body, and Time. Starting with Mind, Chris shows the reader some ways to RPG your life and take a nerdy look at how to make your brain work for you, get your body in reasonable (or at least better) shape, and manage your time. I have to say, I'm actually interested in creating a Character Tome for myself and maybe learning more about me.

Hardwick has some solid ideas, and he presents them in a very conversational way. He never claims to be an expert, in fact, he's quick to say that he is far from, but that he felt he could pass on some wisdom he has gained from his own struggles. Seeing as how I relate to many of those struggles, I feel many of his methods are worth a try.

Here's hoping.

Comedian Chris Hardwick, host of The Nerdist podcast and various TV shows, offers his advice on mental health and motivation, physical fitness, organization, and fulfilling your ambitions.

Generally speaking, I have a very low opinion of self-help books. But I do enjoy things that speak to my nerdy side. (Which, honestly, is far and away the biggest side I have.) So when I found this book in one of those discount book catalogs I love so much, I figured I'd give it a look.

Well, it's certainly nerdy enough. I mean, Hardwick actually suggests drawing up a Dungeons & Dragons-style character sheet for yourself. It is still very much a self-help book, though, with all the rah-rah cheesiness I tend to associate with the self-help industry. Not that his advice is bad, really. Some of it, like the D&D character sheet, seems kind of dumb and gimmicky. But much of it is reasonable enough, if not exactly bursting with insight. Hardwick claims this stuff helped him get his life together, and I suppose I can see where some might find it useful. But there's not a whole lot here that really does very much for me. Maybe because my problems aren't that big, maybe because I don't have the kind of creative ambition he seems to be speaking to, maybe because I'm just not the kind of person who finds motivation in the pages of a self-help book, no matter how nerd-oriented it might be.

Also, while Hardwick's hyper-manic, goofy-twist-on-every-sentence style is entertaining in smallish doses, I find that after a chapter or so it starts rapidly crossing the line back and forth between amusing and annoying.½

Read from May 18 to 22, 2013

Listened For Fun (Audible)
Overall Rating: 4.25
Good to Know Rating: 4.00
Knowledge Manager Rating: 4.50 (aka Chris Hardwick)

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought When Finished: This was a humorous self-help book with some really great ideas! Nothing new but the presentation really worked!

Good To Know Thoughts: I will admit that self-help books are kind of my guilty pleasure. I am also a total geek and a big fan of all things nerdom. Here is the deal, if you read any kind of self-improvement books you know they are not really telling you anything new. Presentation is the key to getting some of the messages to stick. The Nerdist Way takes the humorous and direct way of getting the messages across. There is cursing, examples in relation to Dungeons and Dragons, and some very frank "just get it done" speak. Chris didn't use fancy terms (though he made up a few of his own) and really speaks directly to the target audience: the geeks and nerds of the world. There really is some great advice in here and the activities will help reinforce some good behavior. If you are looking something new and earth-shattering this is not the book. If you are looking for something straight-forward, fun, and sometimes self eye-opening then this will work for you.

NOTE: You must understand Geek/Nerd culture to get some of the references. Then again, I doubt you would look at this book if you didn't.

Knowledge Manager Thoughts: Why did I call Chris or any other self-help book author a Knowledge Manager? That is what they are! If you are a going to write a self-help book than you had better be able to manage that knowledge. Chris practices (from what I can tell) what he talks about. He uses some real life experience to reinforce the ideas that he suggests that we incorporate into our lives. His humor, bluntness, and fun attitude do come across in The Nerdist Way. Fans of his won't be disappointed on that scale. I found him to be real and relatable which always helps when taking advice from someone. Overall, he was a great person to send this particular message.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated by Chris Hardwick/Running Time 6h 10m

Non-Fiction read by the author is always better than using another narrator. The belief and feeling they have their subject matter is always apparent. Chris did a fantastic job with the narration, pacing, and adding emotion into the written word. I highly recommend this on audio.

Final Thoughts: The Nerdist Way exceeded my expectations and dare I say, I had fun listening to a self-help book. Great read for the Nerd/Geeks of the world.

Just barely got started; it expired while I was working my way through Inferno. Seemed interesting, if a little wacky in tone. Might try again at some point.

This was surprisingly a very good self-help book; I am not saying that I didn’t think this book was going to be entertaining I just wasn’t sure that the advice he was going to give would be good. I am a big fan of Chris Hardwick and have been for awhile and even more so with his show the Talking Dead.

I really liked his nerdist way of self improvement I thought his advice for a character tome was great and XP points when you are on track, I thought this was a fun way to keep track of your successes. I thought his chapter on panic attacks was spot on and could tell he had truly gone through these to be able to explain them and how to overcome them was really good.

His very honest take on his alcoholism and how he quit drinking were very inspirational even though these stories were told with humor. I was a little surprised in the chapters about working out and nutrition just because us nerds are not known for being very fit and now I want to see Chris with his shirt off and see just how well all this exercising is working!

I really enjoyed this audiobook and Chris Hardwick’s narration, I do think you need to already be a fan of Chris to enjoy it though because of the way he talks and emphasizes certain things because I am a fan I could “see’ him saying these things and know how he puts himself across. But I think if you have bought this book I would guess you are already a fan of Chris. I think this was the way to read this book because of Chris’s delivery of the words he’s written.

I rarely (never) read self-help but this is the best I have found because his humorous honesty is perfect and I could actually see myself using some of the tenants he sets out in this book.

Starting my day with 100 XP thanks Chris!

4 Stars

Self improvement as a D&D game? Are you serious?

Very cool take on self improvement, for my peeps, the nerds.

Change day life - really - though I skipped through some of the middle.

If you can make it past the language and some of the jokes - this actually has a lot of great ideas. I need to get busy.

I generally don’t read self-help books, but I picked this up because I am a fan of Chris Hardwick. Hardwick, who some may recognize as being one of the hosts of MTV’s Singled Out way back in the 90s, spent much of his 20s partying, drinking, and generally ruining his life. What happened when he hit 30 is best expressed in his own words:

"Then, when I hit thirty, I began to look around at my life: I was consuming a baby elephant’s weight in alcohol EVERY DAY. I lived in a shitty apartment near UCLA … my place was always a mess, I had ruined my credit, and I had no real work prospects. I had become a thing I had always feared–the fat, drunk guy who used to be on television."

Hardwick quit drinking in 2003 and started trying to improve his life. Now he has multiple projects on the go, including a successful (and extremely entertaining) podcast, a new podcast network, and several TV gigs.

The secrets to Hardwick’s success aren’t anything new. Basically, he was able to harness his innate nature (his nerdiness, so to speak) and use it to his advantage. And that’s what this book is about.

His techniques aren’t going to appeal to everyone, but if you enjoy the quantitative over the qualitative, you may find some ideas here. In general, he is advocating identifying your goals and developing a way to track your progress in a visible way. He also talks a lot about how to deal with the generally obsessive "nerdist" brain, something which I could relate to. It’s nice to know that you’re not the only one who thinks the way you do. In the final section, he talks a lot about his diet and fitness, even providing a starter fitness plan that is modeled after what he has done with his trainer.

One thing you can’t forget is that Hardwick is a comedian. The tone of the book is funny and descriptive, even during the more serious parts.

All-in-all, I enjoyed the book, even if I won’t adopt some of the more time-consuming tracking techniques. However, there is one big ding against it. Hardwick spends a fair amount of time on the development of a "character tome" that is the heart of his goal-tracking technique. He sends readers to a web site for sample templates, but that website is not functional. We’re now almost 3 months after the release of the book, and that’s really not acceptable.

Good thing it’s hard to be mad at Hardwick for long.

I didn't know what to expect from this book; I just saw that it was written by the funny deadpan host of the 2003 dating show, "Shipmates". Turns out he is into many nerdy things like chess, computers and games. This is a self-help book especially written for people who fit this profile. I found it to be very insightful and helpful. Chris sincerely shares what he has learned over the past decade. It's worth reading!