Masters of Doom 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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About this listen

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 Business Professionals & Academics Video Game Inspiring Thought-Provoking

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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)
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Finishes off just before the launch of Doom 3, this book covers the rise and fall of Id software and ionstorm. Really engaging and focuses on the people behind the projects. Prepare to google Carmacks reverse.

Brilliant book

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will Wheaton does brilliantly as narrator ( even though I'm not a fan) and brings the book to life, this is a must read for gamers and people wanting to understand a massively important step in cultural history

brilliant!!

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I like how the narator really brought out IDs rockstar attitude whenever he quoted John Ramero

A Blast from the past

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Great book and a must for all video game fans interested in the mediums history.

Fascinating tale of two geniuses

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As ever Will Wheaton delivers with a great telling of a fascinating story.

Anyone of an age to remember the early days of video games will really enjoy the roller coaster ride of ID.

Great story really well read

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A great story of the evolution of the games industry, well written and well read.

Essential reading for anyone interested in games

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I grew up on these games , I knew some of the books contents but so much I didn’t . It was a marvellous ride through my childhood.

Story was so compelling and well written.

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Its amasing what people used to go through to do what they loved. Diferent people coming together to build dreams.

Amasing story

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An essential listen for any video game fan, and a fascinating retelling of the history of one of the most influential games and teams in games history. Read brilliantly by Wheaton!

Brilliant

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As somebody who was there at the start of personal computing, Doom itself and the games that led up to it are very much stuck in my memory and I was delighted to see this book. All in all I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the era because there is a fair bit of background information and it certainly brings back memories of good times when these games seemed the cutting edge of technology.
The book is well written although I would have liked a lot more technical detail, and it moves along quickly, with plenty happening and lots to keep you listening. However I found the people involved almost universally dislikeable, and while this is obviously just what they are like, it made it a difficult read at times.

The narrator surprised me a little. I know his voice from other things he has done and he read this in a rather stereotyped way which while suited to the story, did grate a bit. I got the impression he had decided to read the book with a very specific accent because of the subject matter and at times (especially when he said "we are not worthy" repeatedly) it was quite annoying. I would have preferred it if he had just read in his normal voice and let us imagine the way that the people of the time might have spoken.

However, despite this niggles I enjoyed the story and it gave me a lot of background to something that was a significant part of my youth - I would really like to read a more technical story covering the actual creation of the software.

A fascinating insight into a very strange culture

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