Luke Skywalker Can't Read

Luke Skywalker Can't Read: And Other Geeky Truths by Ryan Britt, 208 pages

In this short book, Britt ruminates on the role of science fiction and fantasy in his life, and spouts a lot of theories involving different sci-fi and fantasy pop culture. While a few of these were interesting to me (particularly the Doctor Who essay and the essay in which Britt discusses the implications of world without Lord of the Rings), most of these fell flat. I'm not sure, however, if this is Britt's fault: the issue is that there's not a lot of crossover in our fandoms. He's obviously passionate about Star Wars and Star Trek, but obviously doesn't care as much about the Whedonverse or Harry Potter as I do (his claim in the titular essay that reading for pleasure doesn't really exist in the wizarding world, at least outside of Hermoine, rankles me; obviously reading for pleasure exists, otherwise what would be the point of The Quibbler or Witch Weekly or Harry's favorite book, Flying with the Cannons? And how would you explain the popularity of celebrity author Gilderoy Lockhart?).

Anyway.

I'm honestly not sure how Britt's theories stack up within their respective fandoms, though as he points out in the introduction, his essays aren't meant to be the final word; they're there to spur conversations and geeky arguments. So if you're a Star Trek, Star Wars, Back to the Future, or Doctor Who fan, give this a whirl. But be warned: you're probably going to disagree with him on something.