This is, for reference’s sake, a tidy list summary of the brilliant classic blog post “The Nerd Handbook” written by Rands a few years ago. It still stands as true, and thus it ever shall be:
The Nerd Handbook
Understand your nerd’s relation to the computer. (“He sees the world as a system which, given enough time and effort, is completely knowable.”)
Your nerd has control issues. (“These control issues mean your nerd is sensitive to drastic changes in his environment.”)
Your nerd has built himself a cave. (“Each object in the Cave has a particular place and purpose. Even the clutter is well designed.”)
Your nerd loves toys and puzzles. (“The joy your nerd finds in his project is one of problem solving and discovery.”)
Nerds are fucking funny. (“Humor is an intellectual puzzle, ‘How can this particular set of esoteric trivia be constructed to maximize hilarity as quickly as possible?’”)
Your nerd has an amazing appetite for information. (“Your nerd knows very little about a lot. For many topics, his knowledge is an inch deep and four miles wide.”)
Your nerd has built an annoyingly efficient relevancy engine in his head. (“For any given piece of incoming information, your nerd is making a lightning fast assessment: relevant or not relevant?”)
Your nerd might come off as not liking people. (“The skills to interact with other people are there. They just lack a well-defined system.”)
Advanced Nerd Tweakage
Map the things he’s bad at to the things he loves. (“You need to appeal to his deep love of discovering new content…”)
Make it a project. (“Significant nerd behavioral change is only going to happen if your nerd engages in the project heart and soul, otherwise it’s just another thought for the irrelevant bucket.”)
People are the most interesting content out there. (“You need to find one common thread of interest between your nerd and your friend and then he’ll engage because he will have found relevance.”)
The reason I posted this here is to remind myself (and others like me) that we are not complicated monsters of geekdom; we are creatures of systems, values, and rules. Once you understand those, then you understand us. I doubt I could put it as eloquently or as tidily as Rands did, so I won’t try. A few things he mentions are completely accurate to myself, but those are mere details. The overall point applies: we’re interested in systems, order, logic and connecting that to the rest of the world is the key to making us a little more normal. Give his post a view; it’s a longer read, but worth it.