Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
Going outside is highly overrated.
Why read it
In a decaying 2045, humanity escapes into a vast virtual universe called the OASIS, and when its billionaire creator dies, he leaves his fortune to whoever can solve a series of puzzles buried in 1980s pop culture.
Cline builds a treasure-hunt adventure inside a global online world, following a poor teenager who becomes an unlikely contender in a high-stakes egg hunt. It is a love letter to gaming and eighties nostalgia wrapped around a David-versus-corporation quest for control of the future.
Cline's 2011 debut became a runaway bestseller and a cultural touchstone for gamer culture. It was adapted into a 2018 blockbuster film directed by Steven Spielberg.
- 01
Escape into the OASIS
What awaits is an immersive virtual world so complete that people live, work, and go to school inside it.
- 02
The eighties as scripture
Halliday's obsession makes decades-old games, films, and music the key to unimaginable wealth.
- 03
Underdog versus empire
Wade races a corporate army, IOI, that wants the prize to monetize and enslave the OASIS.
- 04
Real life versus the avatar
The hunt forces Wade to reckon with the difference between his online self and the person behind the screen.
Wade's flawless play-through of the arcade game Joust and later a perfect run of Pac-Man to unlock hidden keys.
The recreation of the film WarGames, where Wade must recite every line to clear a gate.
