Masters of Doom

Audiobook

English language

Published by Audiobooks.com.

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (3 reviews)

"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. Masters of Doom 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 Smell Esther WilliamsMasters of Doom 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 …

7 editions

Review of 'Masters of Doom' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Excellent breakdown of where John (Romero/Carmack) came from, how they came together to found id, and how they split to go their own direction. This book covers the wonder years of id, from Keen to Doom to Quake. Quite good, but short of 5 stars.

I really enjoyed the history, though towards the end it felt a little rushed. The focus on success with a smaller company and each of the Johns finding problems with larger companies is telling. It is hard to find fault with their split - they were both right in their own ways. I wanted more from some of the other characters - a few early lives are covered, but then they vanish in the narrative. Where other companies connect with either John, they are mentioned. This leaves an incomplete picture of PC gaming at the time, but then that isn't the focus of the book. …

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rated it

4 stars