Red to Black: The Making of Rogue Legacy

I am a huge fan of Roguelike games. Not a big fan of this book. This book documents the path taken to produce Rogue Legacy. It was developed by two brothers. One of them kept a side job to pay the bills. The other programmed the game full time. They had previously made smaller Flash games..

This book did cover a bunch of details. An example is the story of how they hired musicians to produce the music for the game. But interesting details were missing. Game development itself is not such an exciting subject. I was hoping the author could make it exciting.

I can say that I have never played Rogue Legacy. This book did not make me want to run out and download the game. Too bad. I am working extra hard to choose a better book to read next time.

The Making of Prince of Persia

This book chronicles Jordan Mechner's life, through the time he made and helped market his game Prince of Persia. Jordan had made a game for the Apple called Karateka. His follow up was Prince of Persia. Surprisingly, he made the game for Broderbund, but his compensation was a percentage of sale. He was not an employee.

Prince of Persia was something special because Jordan used a video camera to capture how a real life person looks while running, jumping, and doing other Prince of Persia acrobatics. He developed the game near the end of the era for any demand for Apple II computer games. Of course there were ports to other systems like Nintendo and the PC.

The book goes on to follow Jordan after he finishes the game, as he pursues learning how to shoot movies, and also his consulting on Prince of Persia 2. By the end we find out that he forms his own game development company. Quite a thrilling read. Makes you want to run out and develop some video games.

#Girlboss

This book tells the story of Sophia Amoruso, CEO and founder of Nasty Gal Vintage Clothing. She started out reselling vintage clothes on eBay. Then she moved on to selling the clothes on her own website. This was pretty amazing as she barely made it through high school, and quit or was fired from a myriad of jobs.

Sophia does also introduce you to her outlook on life. The book is somewhat geared towards young girls who might grow up to be girl bosses themselves. I really wanted to read this book because, in the end, Sophia's company went bankrupt. This book was written when her company was near it's highs.

I would tell anyone to read this book for enjoyment. There are some annoying bits. But it is written well.

Why Not Me

This is Mindy's second book. I recommend her last book too. Mindy is really funny. Obviously she knows how to write. It is her profession. I feel like I am getting to know her better by reading her books. I want her to write some more.

Mindy has a section in this book where she puts together a hypothetical story if she had turned out to be a teacher. Good stuff while she stocks another older teacher on the staff. The real laughs is when she sprinkles in some chatter from her hypothetical friend who works on Wall Street.

The book also has a section where she met president Obama and starting to fall for one of his bodyguards. LOL. Typical Mindy Kaling. Later parts of the book talk about her weight, and America's obsession with it. The closer is hard hitting information on how to really be confident.

Steve Wozniak - Inventor of the Apple Computer

This is a short book. Comes in just over 100 pages. It is a good overview of Woz's life. Of course I liked that part about his cofounding Apple Corporation. And his work on the Apple computers was genius. Not as interested in his attempts to put on music festivals.

The one thing that resonates in this and other books about Woz was that he is a nice guy. In this case, the nice guy does not finish last. Woz is rich. And he is loved by fans like me. He is the consummate engineer and hacker.

The bonus is that I purchased a used copy of this book and found that it was a signed copy. Woz actually signed my book. Not actually all that rare. But I consider it a treasure. Just wished he signed my copy of iWoz though.

Creativity, Inc.

Could not finish this book. Too boring. I am a Pixar fan. Loved the last book I read about Pixar by the former CFO. It had all the juicy details about Steve Jobs, the great minds behind Pixar, and going public. This book was a management text on how to achieve great results like Pixar. Unfortunately it was a dud.

Normally I finish books that I start. Not this one. Like is too start to endure the pain of reading past page 100. I am surprised I made it this far. Just goes to show you that even with an exciting subject such as Pixar, you can fail if you do not have the writing chops.

The Hidden Relic

This book is the second in a series about The Evermen. It picks up where The Enchantress left off. This time we are in full scale war. The primate has used his elixir plus promises of "The Hidden Relic" to draw clans to his side of the battle.

Miro has proved himself to more than just a blademaster. He is leading the good guys into battle. Occasionally he needs to go off on a secret mission. But he is dealing with strategy and tactics to win a war where he is outnumbered.

Ella was "captured" by a neutral third party, but finds that once again she must aid her captors to help with the war effort. We do find out about her friend Amber who was taken prisoner by the enemy. Odds are against her. But she must do what she can to lead a rebellion from inside the enemy ranks.

We finally get more info on who the Evermen are. Plus we actually get to meet one. Although he is old and gets weak due to battle and abuse, he has the knowledge that was lost over the years.