The Nerd Handbook

So very true (especially for me)...take note: "...your nerd is sensitive to drastic changes in his environment...Your nerd has built himself a cave...Each object in the Cave has a particular place and purpose. Even the clutter is well designed...Your nerd loves toys and puzzles...Your nerd spent a lot of his younger life being an outcast...Your nerd has an amazing appetite for information...your nerd is the king of the context switch...given a world where context is constantly shifting, your nerd can’t focus...Your nerd knows very little about a lot. For many topics, his knowledge is an inch deep and four miles wide. He’s comfortable with this fact because he knows that deep knowledge about any topic is a clever keystroke away...For any given piece of incoming information, your nerd is making a lightning fast assessment: relevant or not relevant? Relevance means that the incoming information fits into the system of things your nerd currently cares about. Expect active involvement from your nerd when you trip the relevance flag. If you trip the irrelevance flag, look for verbal punctuation announcing his judgment of irrelevance...Information that your nerd is exposed to when the irrelevance flag is waving is forgotten almost immediately...Your nerd might come off as not liking people...small talk is a combination of aspects of the world that your nerd hates..."

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Something else to consider: Asperger's syndrome.

I'm guilty of:
displaying lack of eye contact, and few facial expressions...
showing an intense obsession with one or two specific, narrow subjects...
appearing not to understand, empathize with, or be sensitive to others' feelings...
being socially aware but display inappropriate reciprocal interaction...
having a hard time "reading" other people...
finding humor in what others find humorous...
speaking in a voice that is monotonous or rigid...
having odd posture...
having been described as eccentric...
"concrete thinking" (versus abstract...being too literal)...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/aspergers-syndrome/DS00551/DSECTION=2

http://www.autism.org/asperger.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/autism.essay/index.html