The Bookshelf
Books on computer and game history
35 books on computer history, game history and how it all gets made, from Sierra and Doom to consoles, virtual worlds and one very violent cat. Each spine is a book, and taller means more pages.
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The Sierra shelf
Two people at a kitchen table in 1980 start a company that makes adventure games. Four decades later, you can read how it went.
Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings
by Ken Williams
The co-founder tells the story of Sierra from his side of the table: the hits, the growth, the sale and what went wrong after. Roberta is in the story everywhere, and so are the lessons.
Once Upon a Point and Click
by David L. Craddock
Sierra's adventure games from the designers' side, with Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen at the center, from King's Quest to Gabriel Knight.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
by Steven Levy
From MIT labs to home computers and the game makers of the early 80s. Still the best book about hacker culture.
Doom, id and the shooters
Two guys, one 386 and a lot of pizza. These books cover the people, the code and the cultural earthquake.
Masters of Doom
by David Kushner
How John Carmack and John Romero built id Software, made Doom and changed games, and how the friendship came apart. The best-loved book on the subject.
Doom Guy: Life in First Person
by John Romero
The memoir from the co-creator of Doom himself, from a kid learning to program on Apple IIs to one of the most influential games of the 90s.
Game Engine Black Book: DOOM
by Fabien Sanglard
For the programmers: how Doom's engine actually works, with diagrams. Pair it with the Wolfenstein 3D black book by the same author.
Rocket Jump: Quake and the Golden Age of First-Person Shooters
by David L. Craddock
The making of Quake, and how a team that had just made Doom took on 3D. Honest, detailed and a very good read.
Stairway to Badass: The Making and Remaking of Doom
by David L. Craddock
The story of the original Doom and the 2016 return, with the people who made both.
Blizzard and Diablo
A dungeon, a town of people who really need your help and, somewhere, a secret cow level.
Stay Awhile and Listen, Book I
by David L. Craddock
The story of Blizzard and Blizzard North, and how Diablo came together, from the people who built it.
Stay Awhile and Listen, Book II
by David L. Craddock
The sequel: Diablo II, the Battle.net years and everything that made the series a legend. Yes, the cow level is in here.
Consoles, Nintendo and Atari
Before the 90s PC took over the living room, there was a box under the TV. These are the best books about it.
Console Wars
by Blake J. Harris
Sega against Nintendo in the 90s, told like a thriller. It reads fast, and it is a lot of fun.
Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry
by David Sheff
The classic account of how Nintendo took over the American market, written while it was still happening.
The Ultimate History of Video Games
by Steven L. Kent
Pong to PlayStation, with first-hand interviews. The standard history of the industry, and a great reference.
Replay: The History of Video Games
by Tristan Donovan
A worldwide history that does not forget the computers, the arcades or the people who made them.
Racing the Beam
by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost
How programmers made the Atari 2600 do things it was never meant to do, game by game. For anyone who loves clever hardware tricks.
Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun
by Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel
A big, thorough history of Atari from the inside, from Pong through the crash.
Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America
by Jeff Ryan
Nintendo's history, told through Mario and the people around him. Light, funny and quick.
How games actually get made
Behind every great game there is a crunch, a miracle, and a build that would not compile. Here is the real story.
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
by Jason Schreier
Ten stories of how games get made, in all the chaos. Readers keep recommending it, and it is easy to see why.
Press Reset
by Jason Schreier
The other side: studios that closed, and the people who started again. Honest and hard to put down.
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993
by Jordan Mechner
The designer's own diary while he was making Karateka and Prince of Persia. It is as close as you can get to being in the room.
ZZT
by Anna Anthropy
A Boss Fight Books look at the little DOS game editor that taught a generation to make games. A must for anyone who loved MegaZeux.
Game design and virtual worlds
What makes a game fun, what makes a world feel alive, and where multiplayer came from.
A Theory of Fun for Game Design
by Raph Koster
Raph Koster, a lead designer of Ultima Online, explains why games are fun and why they stop being fun. Illustrated with cartoons and full of ideas. Everyone who makes games should read it.
Designing Virtual Worlds
by Richard Bartle
By the co-creator of the first MUD. The deep dive into how online worlds work, and why players behave the way they do.
Dungeons and Dreamers
by Brad King and John Borland
The rise of computer game culture, from Dungeons and Dragons and Richard Garriott's Ultima to LAN parties and online worlds.
Playing at the World
by Jon Peterson
A huge history of how Dungeons and Dragons and role-playing games came to be. The roots of every dungeon you have crawled.
Computer history
The people, the garages and the companies that put a computer on every desk.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
by Steven Levy
From MIT labs to home computers and the game makers of the early 80s. Still the best book about hacker culture.
Accidental Empires
by Robert X. Cringely (pen name of Mark Stephens)
The personal computer business as a comedy, with the real people and the real feuds. Very funny, and surprisingly right.
The Soul of a New Machine
by Tracy Kidder
A team builds a new minicomputer against the clock. The Pulitzer Prize book that made engineering feel like a drama.
Commodore: A Company on the Edge
by Brian Bagnall
The rise and fall of Commodore, from calculators to the C64 and the Amiga. A massive book, and a beloved one.
Insanely Great
by Steven Levy
The story of the Macintosh and the people who made it, written with a fan's eye.
Dealers of Lightning
by Michael Hiltzik
The story of Xerox PARC, where the Alto, the graphical interface and the laser printer came from, and where other companies took the credit.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late
by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon
The creation of the ARPANET and the early internet, from the people who built it.
The Cuckoo's Egg
by Clifford Stoll
A 75-cent accounting error leads an astronomer to a hacker. A true story, and a real page turner.
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
by Charles Petzold
How a computer really works, from flashlights and Morse code up. The patient, friendly way to understand the machine.
Just for fun
Novels with the same energy as the games.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt Dinniman
The end of the world is a game show, and Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat have to survive a dungeon. Violent, hilarious, and more thoughtful than it has any right to be. The first of a hit series.
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
A treasure hunt through 80s games, movies and music, inside a virtual world. Pure nostalgia, and a quick read.