Book: Ready Player One
I’ve never really been a big fan of science fiction movies or books growing up. Non-fiction has always been my go-to because the content is factual and is usually an accurate portrayal of real-life events, people or information. The largely imaginary plots of fiction never related to me — until I picked up Ready Player One.
Several friends recommended Ready Player One to me, the bestselling cult classic and soon to be major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. Without even knowing the storyline I gave it a shot and it immediately grabbed me on the first page:
“I’d heard of Halliday, of course. Everyone had. He was the videogame designer responsible for creating OASIS, a massively multiplayer online game that had gradually evolved into the globally networked virtual reality most of humanity now used on a daily basis.” — Ready Player One
Ready Player One is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world much like Willy Wonka’s hidden golden tickets. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.
One of my main fascinations with this book is that it’s so relatable and actually seems set in the present, far from fantasy. Although written by Ernest Cline and published in 2011, the book is really about now. Amplified by the mythology of Satoshi Nakamoto, decentralized systems and advances in VR, Sci-Fi is now reality. This literary work is even supported by VCs like Adam’s Boost VC. Boost VC’s investment thesis is to “invest in pre-seed blockchain and VR startups making Sci-Fi a reality.” The average valuations for blockchain and VR startups are $4.5M and $4.7M respectively, and climbing, according to AngelList.
“The OASIS isn’t far away.” — Ryan Hoover
Virtual reality could quite possibly become a super drug very soon and it isn’t so far-fetched to see this story play out in the real world.
Additionally, as the son of entrepreneurs who owned a chain of movie stores at one point, I really appreciated the classic 80’s movie referrences in the book. And I’ll definitely be buying the movie soundtrack. I highly recommend this book for a glimpse of what the future — tomorrow — might look like. The movie will be shown in theaters March 30th and you can view the official trailer below:
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