Robots, Clouds, Stars… and Farts

Good morning! Revenge of the EngiNerds comes out in a little more than a week, and I’d like to share with you a few things about it…

Because yes, the book IS about a rogue farting robot and the hunt to find it before it does some SERIOUS damage.

But the book tackles some other, “bigger” issues and ideas, as well. It tackles several questions about friendship. Such as:

If you care for someone, do their problems become your own? What do you do when a friend is set on doing something wrong? How do you navigate a disagreement that splits a group of friends? Can two people grow up without also growing apart?

There are also a lot of clouds in the book, as well as a relatively extended discussion of the vastness of the universe, and what the contemplation of that vastness does to the contemplator.

Why?

Because clouds and the universe are things I often think about. And by including them in these books, I hope to encourage kids to think about them too—to appreciate the beauty and wonder available to them every day, free of charge.

I viscerally remember the first time, as a kid, that I actually attempted to mentally grasp the inconceivable hugeness of the universe. It made me giddy, and filled me with equal parts fear and awe.

It also fundamentally changed the way I thought about myself and my life—this itsy-bitsy blip of time I get to spend on our cosmic speck of a planet. For some, these thoughts lead to nihilistic conclusions. For me, they inspire the opposite.

They make the miracle of life all the more miraculous, our uniqueness all the more precious. They can also inspire a hefty dose of humility, and empathy for the billions of miraculous, precious lives we get to spend our time here with.

And so, I hope Revenge of the EngiNerds inspires readers to take a second every now and again to ponder the clouds drifting overhead, and that they sometimes try to do the impossible, and fit the universe in their heads.

And I hope they enjoy all the fart jokes, too.

~ Jarrett

. . .

The images above are either stock photos, available for free use, or taken from NASA’s archive. The cover of Revenge of the EngiNerds was illustrated by Serge Seidlitz, and the black-and-white interior illustration is from the Dutch edition of EngiNerds, titled RoboNerds, illustrated by Kees de Boer.