I'm not into biography books. I read only two in my life and in both cases, it was about people I was genuinely interested in (JRRT and C.S. Lewis, if you want to know). This book was recommended to me in our book club and I had no idea what to expect. I'm not a gamer. I liked 90's platform games and poin'n'click adventures when I was a kid, but I was never interested in them beyond occasional afternoon gaming sessions. And I knew next to nothing about gaming industry and its history so naturally I was curious about what I would find in the book.

I'd say the book is 30% history of gaming (in broad sense: development of games, playing, rating and censorship etc.) and 70% personal lives and quirks of two prominent game developers. I loved the first part and hated the second -.- Even though I understand, on an intellectual level, that you need to know it if you want to trully understand what was going on with them and especially why things were happening the way they were happening, I couldn't be more frustrated while reading about their horrible eating habits, nighttime gaming sessions (including screaming obscenities and destroying computer equipment), and nonexistent work-life balance (I swear to you, if I hear a word deathmatching once again, I'm going to destroy something too). And it doesn't help these guys have horrendous personalities I couldn't get over. But. There is a big but.

The history part of the book, the way two Johns shaped games, the industry and gamers themselves, it was fascinating to watch. The good and the bad part of the process as well. I'm glad I read the whole book because the last third (the breakup and separate business models) was the most interesting part of the story. And it helped me understand some computer mumbo jumbo I knew about only vaguely (e.g. shareware, thumbs up for this one).