Multi-Type Advisory: Ready Player One

So. It has come to my attention that "multi-type advisory" is the second most popular keyword search by which people are finding this blog.  I guess that means people enjoy them - which means I should continue to post them!  Here we go.

Ready Player One
By Ernest Cline
Audio book read by Wil Wheaton
Copyright 2011

I haven't yet finished this book.  I'm listening to the audio in my car, and I've got one disc left.

And I love it.

The OASIS is a virtual world created by James Halliday.  People plug in to play games, watch movies...in short, be and do pretty much whatever they want.  Before his death, James Halliday hid some "easter eggs" with the promise that whoever found them would inherit the OASIS itself.  The clues are ensconced in 1980s pop culture.  The story is set in 2045, so the 1980s are long gone.  Egg hunters must track down keys by solving puzzles that lead them to various planets and sectors around the OASIS.  They have to pass tests that involve things like old arcade games and knowing the lines to old movies.

Wade Watts was the first person to find the first key.  There are others - huge corporations made up of Egg Hunters - who are willing to literally kill for that key.  Wade must win the game before they do because they will ruin the OASIS with corporate notions like membership dues.  He must also stay a step ahead of them in order to save his very life.

Read-Alikes

Reamde 
By Neal Stephenson

I haven't read this, but it is about virtual reality, fantasy games, and a rogue corporate gaming company.

Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United
Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

Rush plays a big part in Ready Player One.  Such a philosophical group with deep, storytelling lyrics!

Feed
By M. T. Anderson

Consumerism and virtual reality play into this story as well.  People in this futuristic story  have implants in their brains that connect them to the internet.













Music Suggestions
Anything 1980s!  They're making this book into a movie, and it will have the BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER. If you like 80s music, that is, which I do.  Here are some albums mentioned in the book.

Duran Duran - Rio - 1982

Devo - Freedom of Choice - 1980

Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust - 1988

Rush - 2112 - 1976

Movie and TV Show Suggestions
Again, this is almost too easy since there are a lot of movies mentioned in the book.  Such as:

War Games

Godzilla

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Silver Spoons

Family Ties