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CNET Book Club: Jeff VanderMeer brings Dead Astronauts to life

The author of Borne, Annihilation and Wonderbook joins us to talk about his new novel, holiday gift book ideas and why we're all obsessed with Watchmen.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming

Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times

Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials

Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings

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Scott Stein Editor at Large

I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.

Expertise VR and AR, gaming, metaverse technologies, wearable tech, tablets Credentials

Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps

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Dan Ackerman

Scott Stein

Dec. 11, 2019 5:00 a.m. PT

2 min read

03-jeff-vandermeer-dan-ackerman-scott-stein-author-podcast — Sarah Tew/CNET

Author Jeff VanderMeer is literally the reason CNET Book Club exists. When co-hosts Dan and Scott were both reading his 2017 novel Borne, a Twitter joke about starting a CNET Book Club turned into a podcast of the same name within weeks, with VanderMeer as an inaugural call-in guest.

Now we're excited to have him join us on set for an extended chat about Dead Astronauts, the third book in the loosely knit Borne-verse. It's a deeply strange exploration of resistance against a cryptic future corporation across multiple realities, wrapped in the author's signature eco-dystopia.

See it at Amazon

We also discuss great holiday book gift ideas, how his wife has to change the Wi-Fi password when it's time to start a new book, and why Watchmen is the greatest show currently on TV.

Watch this: CNET Book Club: Jeff VanderMeer on his new novel Dead Astronauts

01:01:25

About CNET Book Club

The Book Club is hosted by a pair of self-proclaimed book experts: Dan Ackerman (author of the nonfiction video game history book The Tetris Effect), and Scott Stein, a playwright and screenwriter. We'll be announcing our next Book Club selection soon, so send us your suggestions and keep an eye out for updates on Twitter at @danackerman and @jetscott.

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