Katherine Isbister's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Katherine Isbister recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Katherine Isbister's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
Competitive video and computer game play is nothing new: the documentary King of Kong memorably portrays a Donkey Kong player's attempts to achieve the all-time highest score; the television show "Starcade" (1982--1984) featured competitions among arcade game players; and first-person shooter games of the 1990s became multiplayer through network play. A new development in the world of digital gaming, however, is the emergence of professional computer game play, complete with star players, team owners, tournaments, sponsorships, and spectators. In "Raising the Stakes," T. L. Taylor explores... more
Recommended by Katherine Isbister, and 1 others.

Katherine IsbisterA great book if you are puzzled by this idea of professionalised video gaming. (Source)

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2

Communities of Play

Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds

The odyssey of a group of "refugees" from a closed-down online game and an exploration of emergent fan cultures in virtual worlds.

Play communities existed long before massively multiplayer online games; they have ranged from bridge clubs to sports leagues, from tabletop role-playing games to Civil War reenactments. With the emergence of digital networks, however, new varieties of adult play communities have appeared, most notably within online games and virtual worlds. Players in these networked worlds sometimes develop a sense of community that transcends the game...
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Recommended by Katherine Isbister, and 1 others.

Katherine IsbisterIn these massively multiplayer online games there are a huge number of people and sometimes very complex communities. (Source)

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3
James Paul Gee begins his classic book with "I want to talk about video games--yes, even violent video games--and say some positive things about them." With this simple but explosive statement, one of America's most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. In this revised edition, new games like World of WarCraft and Half Life 2 are evaluated and theories of cognitive development are expanded. Gee looks at major cognitive activities including how individuals develop a sense of identity, how we grasp meaning, how we evaluate and... more
Recommended by Katherine Isbister, and 1 others.

Katherine IsbisterThis book is probably the book that launched the tremendous interest in games for learning. (Source)

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4

Ready Player One

The bestselling cult classic--soon to be a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.



At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut--part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It's the year 2045, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of...
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Steve JurvetsonA gift to all of my Apple II programming buddies from high school and Dungeons & Dragons comrades. (Source)

Fabrice GrindaI have lots of books to recommend, but they are not related to my career path. The only one that is remotely related is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. That said here are books I would recommend. (Source)

Dominic Steil[One of the books that had the biggest impact on .] (Source)

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5
Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Written by one of the world's top game designers, The Art of Game Design presents 100 plus sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game�s design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology. This Second Edition of a Game Developer Front Line Award winner: Describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design Demonstrates how tactics used in board,... more
Recommended by Ryan Hoover, Katherine Isbister, and 2 others.

Ryan HooverAlthough it's about gaming, the learnings and tactics in the book can be applied to any product. It's really about psychology and how people think. (Source)

Katherine IsbisterThis book is written by a very respected game design practitioner and academic, and it is one of the classics. (Source)

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