Masters of Doom

Now, I don’t read too much, and when I do finish a book, its definitely worth reading. Masters of Doom is the story of the Two Johns that created an empire in video games, with such titles as the revolutionary Comander Keen, which brought console like graphics to the computer, Wolfenstien, the first 1st person-shooter, Doom, which started a new video game craze with networked deathmatching, and Quake which started internet deathmatching. “The Rock Star”- John Romero- had a vision about become an ‘Ace Programmer, Future Rich Person’ and that came to be when He met “The Rocket Scientist”- John Carmack. With Carmack’s brilliant new engines that revolutionized the way video games were played, Romero saw big things to do with those engines. It tells the story of how they met in a small town in Shrevport, Louisiana and then went on to create ID Software, the best video game company for some time, all before they were 30.
David Kushner did a great job of telling the unique and inspiring story of how ID was built up, how Romero became a video game rock star, how Carmack wrote these revolutionary engines, how it all come together and the lives they effected. My favorite story to read was Carmack’s, because he did in the gaming world what I want to do on the web. Create something new, revolutionary, that no one has ever done before. While I might have a long way to go to do that, and I might not know what Im going to do yet, but this book inspired me to do my best. At the end of the book, Kushnet leaves you with this quote from Carmack.

Masters of Doom is a great book to read, especially if you are a gamer or a programmer. But the story is a unique one that will pull you into their world, through the ups and the downs, and leave you with the cliff hanger that is their present and future. Later!