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Posted: Mar 11, 2008 in Things to do
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John Green knows a lot about embracing one's inner nerd. He blogs with his brother on Nerdfighters, a site Green says is "a celebration of nerd culture."
The author and recent Indy transplant told us about his less-than-super-cool passions.
"The only way I'm able to love anything is nerdily," Green said. "Nerdiness is more of an approach to a variety of interests -- any interest can be made nerdy by a nerd."
English Premier League soccer: "I like weird sports, and I also like them with a creepy intensity," he said. The reason for having cable TV in his home: For one soccer channel amid the 400+ other ones.
Bluegrass music
NASCAR "I like to think I'm a person who walks in moderately artsy circles," he said, "but the fact of the matter is I'm a kid from Alabama and I like stock-car racing." He says he spends a lot of time on NASCAR fantasy league sites.
Physics
Books: "I have what I think to be the world's largest collection of books about conjoined twins." Beyond those, however, his home library is equally vast, geekily cataloged and frequently dusted. "(Books are) definitely the thing I'm most nerdy about."
Though Green says he doesn't get out of the house much, he did have a few suggestions for people -- specifically art nerds, book nerds and, um, shut-ins/novelists.
Go to Big Car Gallery, 1043 Virginia Ave.
Buy books at Big Hat Books, 922 E. Westfield Blvd.
Go to movies and eat food.
Participate in various sports fantasy leagues.
Stay in and catalog your at-home library.
Enter John Green's world
Online: www.nerdfighters.ning.com and www.sparksflyup.com
In print: "Looking for Alaska" and "An Abundance of Katherines."
- Interview by Mary Garrison