Boston Book Festival a Nerd Paradise

Jerry Seinfeld once said, “A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.” In an age of 140-character updates it appears, shockingly, that many Bostonians are still thinking in long form.

This past Saturday, the first ever Boston Book Festival was held in Copley Square, featuring authors and performers across all genres and art forms.

One of the most interesting and well-attended events was a interview with John Hodgman. You may not know the name, but you probably know his face. (Hint: he's a PC.)

He was interviewed by author Tom Perrotta ("Election," "The Abstinence Teacher"), who taught him once when Hodgman was at Yale. Despite his low-caliber education, Hodgman has enjoyed much success as a writer, literary agent and personification of a computer since his graduation in 1994.

Speaking to an adoring audience that was almost entirely college-aged in the sanctuary of Old South Church, Hodgman quipped, “I’ve always wanted my own megachurch.” More from the PC and the Yard cow-grazer post-jump.

When asked about how he took on his persona of a (fake) expert in every subject, Hodgman referred to his experience as a literary agent in New York City.

Hodgman also commented that he used to think that “it was not okay to be funny...I never considered myself to be a humorist or a comic writer… until the Daily Show,” he said.

Hollis Research Professor of Divinity Harvey G. Cox, best known for recently grazing his cow in Harvard Yard, and author of "When Jesus Came to Harvard," was also at the Book Festival. In a panel called “Matters of Faith”, he spoke about religion in society today.

He expressed that all the distractions in the world today “are inducing in us a cultural attention deficit syndrome.”

“I think faith is a basic, irrefutable human need,” he said, drawing from his years of working with Harvard students. “There is a hunger… for something beyond our capacity to be manipulated.”

From documentary fanatics (Ken Burns made an appearance) to adults who read kid lit (Chris Van Allsburg, author of "The Polar Express" was there, and so was Clifford the Big Red Dog) to spoken word poets, the inaugural BBF had something for everyone. Flyby is eager for the second edition.