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A review by sams84
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School by Alexandra Robbins
3.0
This is both a humorous and light hearted yet serious and heart felt look at how non-conformists (as Robbins terms us) suffer in high school yet kick ass as adults. She looks at the different types of non-conformists from gamers to unhappy prep kids, looks at why they are labelled as such and how they are treated by their peers, their teachers, their families and their friends. She also includes the results of interviews with various teens that fit the varied and numerous outsider labels. I do have one massive bug bear with this though, in particular the challenges she set some of her interviewees, as to me they seemed to aim to change who they were rather than help them accept who they were. As an outsider I was raised to be myself regardless of what others thought and I feel that this should have been the biggest message, it is there but with a few caveats thrown in about making an effort to be nicer to people (not my strongest point), trying lots of new things (why if you're happy how you are) etc. She does make lots of excellent points about schools and parents being more accepting of all teens and not just those considered to be 'normal', which are really good but these should be applied to the teens themselves too. Yes being bullied sucks but living a lie is far worse. Overall an interesting read and one that could well help those struggling with being a non-conformist but worth taking with a pinch of salt.