Cover Image: Geek and Ye Shall Find

Geek and Ye Shall Find

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Member Reviews

A very sweet and encouraging book. I liked the tone and the detail. I will be buying it when it comes out.

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I don't know the author, it is the first book I took from her. If you like this kind of topic and all Geek stuff you will find this enjoyable and entertaining. I didn't understand many of the methaphors or allegories because I'm not familiar with a lot of characters and tv shows, It is understandable because this book was intended specifically to that audience.. At the beginning I thouth it was written by a men, when I just saw the cover, so it was interesting to me to see it was a woman. I found a lot of slang in the book as it was written from a teenager, I don't know her age, but it looks like that so maybe this book it is going to be well accepted with teens. I found the part about legos enjoyable.

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This wasn't quite what I expected it to be, so I struggled to finish it and ended up abandoning it.

That's not to say it won't be useful for people who wish to intwine their geekiness and their faith.

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This was a thoroughly entertaining devotional that reminded me that God's truths can be found in the most unlikeliest of places, including within my favorite fandoms. I enjoyed reading Ellen Elliot's anecdotes about unconventional ways God reached out to her, and the nostalgia of revisiting some of my favorite geeky movies and tv shows was also a plus.

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Geek and Ye Shall Find: Devotions for Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks Everywhere by Ellen Elliott was a hilarious book filled with so many pop culture references. If you liked Ready Player One then I'd highly recommend Geek and Ye Shall Find

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This book was very hit or miss, some days were great but others were such a stretch that I didn’t see a connection and maybe that’s because I wasn’t interested in every single fandom in the book.

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Embrace your geeky, dorky self with Gods love! This is not your typical devotional!

The author takes things that we enjoy (Star Wars, Back to The Future, and one of my favorites, Bill and Ted!) and ribbons scripture throughout it. I admit I was born in the 80’s so all the geeky references are completely in my wheelhouse. I really enjoyed how the author compares cosplay to how Christians should be clothed spiritually and honestly just co-mingling the geek culture with scripture.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the lighthearted feeling of the book. I like devotionals and will definitely recommend this one!

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Geek and You Shall Find is subtitled a Devotion for Nerds, Geeks and Dorks Everywhere. However even the average viewer of pop culture will know of most of massively varied fandoms included. There are a few that are expected and a few that would be hard to expect. This devotional is unique, the content involved doesn’t always follow the stereotypical allusions that you would normally expect. This is very helpful as it in agreement with Ellen’s great, conversational writing style to draw the readers into her devotional thoughts. This is not an advanced devotional, but it would be helpful for tweens through young adults.

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Geek and Ye Shall Find completely changed my life. Ellen takes the common stuff us geeks enjoys and infuses with Scripture. The links she finds between geekdom and Scripture was amazing and unexpected.
Are you a geek? No...Are you a Christian Geek? If so, consider adding this as a daily devotional.. The chapters are short and begin with an appropriate verse that ties into whatever out-of-this-world scenario she has planned.

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This was a joy to read. The tone is chatty and funny. Elliott does more than just reference pop culture. SHe really digs deep into the topic. It's very entertaining but isn't afraid to get serious. THe links between the pop culture reference and religious topic are strong. It was easy to start reading, compelling to keep reading, and holds up to a repeat read.

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So Ellen is a total geek like me. I loved her quirky sense of humor. The lessons she taught were simple and yet they were things we still need to revisit from time to time.

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This was a well written, informative and enjoyable daily devotional. The geeky spin on the traditional devotional format was very appealing and enticing. It connected pop culture with the stories and lessons in the bible. I feel like this has lessons for many age ranges but the target seemed to be a younger audience with more references to older subjects. That being said I think Elliott will have a winner with this due to the fact more 80's pop culture is "making a comeback" with books, films and shows such as Stranger Things and Ready Player One. Overall a good and interesting devotional - It made me look forward to diving into it.

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I really liked the connection between religion and pop culture in this book. However, the book is aimed at a fairly conservative audience, and I'm not sure it would appeal to younger and more progressive readers. Also, many of the pop culture references are fairly dated

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I love the title of this book, and the concept of mixing geeky things with a devotion sounded interesting to me. I also liked how she wrote about being a geek meant you were interested and engaged in some topic, and that topic could be Christ/Christianity. It was a lovely way of explaining her thoughts in writing the book.

The downside of the book for me came in the mix of the writing style with the topics. The writing felt geared toward younger people but yet the geek topics seemed to appeal more to a slightly older audience. The links between the geeky stuff and the devotional stuff felt tenuous in some sections and weakened the overall feel of the book for me. I could definitely see giving this book to a geeky friend as a bridge to discussing religion and faith, but it just didn't hit the mark for me.

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Have you ever thought that there just aren't any good devotionals out there for the geeks among us? Geek and Ye Shall Find would have you think differently. This book is a series of devotionals with geek-a-riffic themes. Pulling from fandoms like Star Wars and Star Trek, and from a wealth of other pop culture references, Ellen Elliott shares scriptural insights in a way that even the geekiest among us can relate to. I am a geek and a nerd, and these devotionals are a great way to close out my day with Biblical truth.

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As a non religious person, I was initially hesitant to delve into a religious themed book. However, I was intrigued with this book's premise of combining scenarios and characters from numerous pop culture influences and how they relate to specific stories and passages from the Bible.

By focusing on the messages from the Bible and how they relate to pop culture properties, Ellen Elliot was able to break down specific stories from the Bible in a relatable way that even a non religious person like myself could appreciate. I never felt that Elliot's messages were overtly preachy, In fact, I found her ability to draw parallels between shows like Lost and films like Star Wars to scriptures within the Bible was a unique and fresh take on religious studies. I never once felt like I was lost or didn't understand her comparisons, which is a testament to her abilities as a scholar and writer.

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I really liked the connection between religion and pop culture in this book. However, the book is aimed at a fairly conservative audience, and I'm not sure it would appeal to younger and more progressive readers. Also, many of the pop culture references are fairly dated - Back to the Future, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Star Trek. Many younger readers, I fear, may not have seen these movies/shows.

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This is not your everyday, usual devotional - the first chapter, LOST covers the gamut from discussing the TV series LOST’s characters to finding a young mothers’ purse, baby pictures and clothing and searching for and finding their owner and giving her back her cherished possessions.
There is a chapter on Cosplay (dressing up in character costumes)that discusses dressing rules, characters and how as Christians we should clothe ourselves spiritually because “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” You will enjoy and become wiser by learning about why your spiritual armor is absolutely essential in your spiritual walk.
The chapter on idols began with a discussion about the Star Trek episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”, and how they invaded the ship and had to be gotten rid of to a wild addiction to scrapbooking that took over the author’s life and the means of scrapbooking had to be evicted from the author’s life. In essence, anything that you put in front of your relationship to God can become an idol.
Enjoy a Geeky tour of how you can enhance your relationship with God and others!

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I liked this more than I thought I would! Being middle aged I’m getting on a bit but my inner geek is still alive and well and I was fascinated by the geeky premise of this devotional. I’m also a massive science fiction and fantasy and gaming fan so the structure of this book, taking a film or game etc and applying lessons learned through the prism of Scripture, appealed to me.

The reason I liked it more than I thought I would is probably because it took me awhile to get onto the wavelength of the geeky language used (but that might just be my age now!). Early on in the book I thought the author was maybe trying a bit too hard to come across as sufficiently geeky in her use of phrases but after awhile I got used to this and it didn’t irk so much. There’s a good and wide ranging choice of Bible stories and verses chosen although it frequently feels like a youth club leader trying to bring a cool vibe to the stories which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t (for me).

While there are touching and funny stories from the author’s own experience running through the book (this is one of its strengths) there is also a touch of inconsistency. In I think chapter two on cosplay we’re told enemy arrows of doubt will simply bounce off our shield of faith. While it’s true that we can deflect and defeat enemy attacks there are times when we are wounded and experience trauma while doing so rather than attacks simply bouncing off us. Indeed, in the later chapter on depression, it didn’t sound like depression’s arrows of doubt were simply bouncing off the author’s shield of faith but rather made an impact. I’m probably being harsh here but again in the chapter on depression and Disney, whilst giving generally helpful advice, we are told if we”re lonely to phone a friend. Everyone has their own experience of depression and what they can and can’t do but for me I couldn’t simply pick up the phone, a big black mental wall prevented that simple act. I’m probably nit picking and there’s lots that’s helpful in the section and comedy value helps but it’s what I thought when I read it.

These thoughts aside I thought it a great book and its very uniqueness sets it apart. When published I would certainly use it for my devotions and even to read through as a normal book. I don’t know if any more books are planned but if the publisher and author fancy doing a second volume I’d certainly be a customer! As I read it I was thinking of ‘geek category’ books, films, tv shows and games that I could draw spiritual lessons from myself and found it a great way to ‘spark’ my own devotional life. For the record the chapter on Tetris and feeling overwhelmed was one of my favourites!

I appreciate Ellen Elliott’s efforts here and I believe this book would be a valuable asset for a church as well as individuals. Highly recommended and great fun to read, thought provoking and challenging and a great way to reach out to ‘seekers’ who wouldn’t be interested in the ‘normal” church routes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harvest House Publishers for ARC.

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Geek and Ye Shall Find is original and interesting. I've read many devotions, but not like this. Author Ellen Elliott does something fairly new here, mingling belief with nerd culture. Nicely done.

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