The Nerd Reich Arrives August 18
Terrible things are happening, but there is power in words and stories
After months of furious writing, my book is advancing toward publication. The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy will arrive on August 18, 2026. So far, it will also be published in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Poland.
Writing my first book has been an amazing (and challenging) experience. Sitting in front of the computer for fourteen to sixteen hours a day was not very fun. The tight deadline required me to orient my entire life around the project. This meant abandoning any semblance of a social life and devoting all my time to deep research on fascism, venture capital, genocide, and the significance of the Antichrist, etc. I became a prisoner of the book, but there was no other way.
The payoff: Through the magical processes of reporting, thinking and writing, I produced hundreds of pages of a shocking and painstakingly detailed story that will soon go out into the world—a clarifying and terrifying tale about the radicalization of Silicon Valley. It feels good to be on the other side of so much work. Soon, I can return to aimless walks and drinks with friends. I will also be picking up the pace on this newsletter, which has suffered due to my focus on the book. (Thank you to our paid subscribers for keeping us afloat!)
It has been a year since my book deal was announced, and it’s still mind-blowing to me that this little newsletter has come so far. The Nerd Reich started as a blog where I planned to catalogue the extremist politics of Silicon Valley. At the time, very few people seemed interested, so I didn’t expect much of an audience. Unfortunately, tech fascism has quickly become an open, obvious, and existential threat to democracy. Every day I reckon with the fact that my success means terrible things are happening!
But there is power in words and stories. My hope is that the book will help people understand what’s happening to our world—and move them toward solutions. We must understand the dire urgency of our situation to see clearly what must be done about it.
And here’s what you can do right now: please pre-order the book! Early sales make a big difference.
- Click here to pre-order The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and The War On Democracy (USA)
- UK readers please click here.
This is going to be an interesting year. I’m already banned from Elon Musk’s X, and the book hasn’t even been published yet.
Dreaming Against The Machine with Adam Becker
Last year, I interviewed astrophysicist Adam Becker, author of More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. Among other things, Becker explained why Elon Musk’s Mars fantasies are total BS (and that episode is still the most-downloaded episode of the Nerd Reich podcast).
Now, Adam has his own podcast, “Dreaming Against The Machine”:
Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future. Each week, the show’s host, journalist and astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker, will have an earnest (and entertaining!) conversation with a guest about possible futures, seen through the lenses of history, science, and culture. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the terms of the public conversation about what our world can and should be.
If you read the Nerd Reich newsletter, you’ll love “Dreaming Against the Machine.” Adam is brilliant and funny, and he finds hope in the darkest of places. Please give him a listen and support his work!
