Masters of Doom

Executive Summary: This book is what I wish [b:Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation 18505802 Console Wars Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation Blake J. Harris https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391419511s/18505802.jpg 26198818] would have been. As a huge fan of id games growing up, and a software developer this book really worked for me, but will probably be too slow for many people.Audio book: I was doubly excited to do this book when I saw that [a:Wil Wheaton 37075 Wil Wheaton https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1356706649p2/37075.jpg] was the narrator. He's a perfect fit for this book. He also does more accents and voices than I'm used to. Overall an excellent job.Full ReviewDoom along with a few other games defined my childhood and shaped my future in a way than the Nintendo games I played before them never quite did. PC games made me fall in love with the computer. It made me look at them as more than just game machines. I wanted to know how they work. I wanted to master them. John Carmack was one of my heroes. I wanted to make PC games for a living.As with most childhood dreams, they rarely work out as planned. I did go on to be a software developer, just not for games. I am one of those Application developers the two Johns both loathed to be relegated to. I decided I'd rather play games than spend long hours making them. I'm grateful that they never gave up on the idea however.I loved that this book not only got into the guys who made some of my favorite and inspiration games, but also quite a bit about the software process itself. No he didn't get super technical and talk about algorithms (much), but he did give insight to time, and skills and some of the big leaps John Carmack made along the way to cement his and Romero's names in history.I will say that the software process stuff that I loved may have a negative effect on the casual gamer or even the more hardcore Doom/id fans that don't always have an interest in “how the sausage is made”. I think Mr. Kusher does an excellent job of balancing facts and dialogue in a way that you feel you're along for the ride without feeling like he's just making up conversations to fill pages which was my main issue with [b:Console Wars 18505802 Console Wars Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation Blake J. Harris https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391419511s/18505802.jpg 26198818].Overall I though this book was quite excellent, but it won't be for everyone.