Masters of Doom - by David Kushner (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b><i>Masters of Doom</i> is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history--Doom and Quake--until the games they made tore them apart.</b> <p/> Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. <i>Masters of Doom</i> is the first book to chronicle this industry's greatest story, written by one of the medium's leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry--a powerful and compassionate account of what it's like to be young, driven, and wildly creative. <p/><b>"To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. <i>Masters of Doom</i> is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses--and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way."--Mark Leyner, author of<i> I Smell Esther Williams</i></b><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. <b>Masters of Doom</b><i> </i>is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses - and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way."<br><i>--</i>Mark Leyner, author of<b> I Smell Esther Williams</b> <p/>"<b>Masters of Doom </b>is an excellent archetypal tale of hard work and genius being corrupted by fame too young and fortune too fast. I rooted for these guys, was inspired by them, then was disturbed by them, and was fascinated from beginning to end."<br><i>--</i>Po Bronson, author of<b> The Nudist on the Late Shift</b> <p/>"Like <b>Hackers</b>, David Kushner's <b>Masters of Doom</b><i> </i>paints a fascinating portrait of visionary coders transforming a previously marginal hobby into a kind of 21st-century art form -- and enraging an entire generation of parents along the way. Kushner tells the story with intelligence and a great sense of pacing. <b>Masters of Doom</b><i> </i>is as riveting as the games themselves."<br><i>--</i>Steven Johnson, author of <b>Emergence</b> <p/><i>"</i><b>Masters of Doom</b> tells the compelling story of the decade-long showdown between gaming's own real-life dynamic duo, played high above the corridors of Doom in the meta-game of industry and innovation. With the narrative passion of a true aficionado, Kushner reminds us that the Internet was not created to manage stock portfolios but to serve as the ultimate networked entertainment platform. It's all just a game."<br><i>--</i>Douglas Rushkoff, author of <b>Coercion, Ecstasy Club</b>, and <b>Nothing Sacred</b> <p/>"Are you brainy? Gifted? Deeply alienated? Ever wanted to be a multimillionaire who transformed a major industry? Then <b>Masters of Doom</b><i> </i>is the book for you!"<b><br></b><i>--</i>Bruce Sterling, author of <b>Tomorrow Now</b><i> <p/></i>"Kushner's mesmerizing tale of the Two Johns moves at a rapid clip . . . describing the twists and turns of fate that led them to team up in creating the most powerful video games of their generation. . . . An exciting combination of biography and technology."<br><i>--USA Today <p/></i>"Meticulously researched . . . as a ticktock of the creative process and as insight into a powerful medium too often dismissed as kids' stuff, <b>Masters of Doom</b> blasts its way to a high score."<br><i>--Entertainment Weekly <p/></i>"[An] extraordinary journey . . . an exhilarating time capsule of a moment in time where anything could happen--and often did. Kushner's take on this geek uprising is like a breakneck-paced comic book that you can't put down."<br>--<i>Newsday <p/></i>"Kushner's portrait of Carmack is lustrous and gripping. . . . An impressive and adroit social history."<br><i>--The New York Times Book Review <p/></i>"Terrifically told . . . The storytelling is so fluid, so addictive, that your twitching thumbs keep working the pages."<br><i>--The Washington Post Book World <p/></i><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>DAVID KUSHNER</b> has written for numerous publications, including<i> Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Wired, New York, Worth, Electronic Gaming Monthly, The Village Voice, Details, Mondo 2000, </i> and <i>Salon.</i> He is the digital-music columnist for Rolling Stone online, and a contributing editor for Spin and IEEE Spectrum. He has also worked as a senior producer and writer for the music website SonicNet. He received a B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a master's in creative writing from City University of New York. He can be reached at www.davidkushner.com.
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