Masters of Doom Audiobook By David Kushner cover art

Masters of Doom

How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

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Masters of Doom

By: David Kushner
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Masters 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 to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. 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.

©2003 David Kushner (P)2012 Audiobooks.com Biographies & Memoirs Business Professionals & Academics Video Game Game Inspiring Funny Career

Critic reviews

"Compelling . . . Masters of Doom succeeds on several levels. It's just great storytelling, with perfect pacing, drama and characterization. It's also an excellent business book, a cautionary tale with the kind of insider detail that other writers working in the genre should envy." ( Houston Chronicle)
“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.” ( USA Today)
“Meticulously researched . . . as a ticktock of the creative process and as insight into a powerful medium too often dismissed as kids’ stuff, Masters of Doom blasts its way to a high score.” ( Entertainment Weekly)
Fascinating History • Compelling Narrative • Thorough Research • Entrepreneurial Insights • Technological Evolution

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This was a surprisingly suspensful story, everybody who is familiar with Doom and Quake should be interested in the story behind the games. I was one of those who were waiting (and waiting and waiting) for John Romero's Daikatana and I finally gave up waiting, now I know what happened!!! The reader gives such a great performance that the book is elevated to a new level. I really liked this one.

Loved the games and loved the book

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This book was exceptional. The story was unexpectedly compelling; it seamed to have just the right mix of technology and society. Narration was bang on!

Truly interesting stuff!

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This is the story of a gaming landmark from the golden age of video games up to the current day. It is fascinating to see what goes into game design, and the tensions and ups and downs of game development, including that of having a do-no-wrong image in the industry.

The Doom

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This book kept me constantly involved. From the realities of these individual’s lives to the information about the birth of pc gaming. I played some of there games and taught myself to program around the same time. I felt the story and it was fascinating to see these guys play at being rock stars in the pc universe. Wheaton is a perfect choice for narration. His work is good, or very good, for fiction, but it is great for non fiction.

Kushner and Wheaton are a good combo

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Having spent many of my earlier years glued to the PC playing the games by the Johns (okay, I still do), I loved listening to the early days of both how they got started and the how the industry formed around them. I found myself more and more engaged in the story until maturity set in. Then the story more or less plodded along until it ended. Since that's probably how it was in real life, I didn't ding the overall or story ratings much. The first two-thirds were so fun and so nostalgic, it was still very much worth spending the credit. Wil Wheaton, by the way, is always the best narrator for these types of books (techno-geeky).

Loved it but the end was anti-climatic

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