Agent Palmer

Interspersed with Douglas Coupland’s essays and a Tomb Raider history lesson are actual video game walkthroughs. Step by step instructions for some levels of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider Gold. This is more than your average video game guide, this is what video game guidebooks should strive to be!

The fact that a writer like Coupland could write a first-person Lara Croft essay, as well as his additional thoughts and short history of a game and franchise back in 1998 is amazing.

The New York Times called it “A remarkable collection of characters…courageously exploring mindspace, an innerworld where nobody had ever been before,” and they’re right. The book, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy is as great a story as the real-life characters and their accomplishments that adorn the book.

Names you’ve heard like Wozniak and Gates, and those you haven’t like Felsenstein, Greenblatt, and Gosper are among the many mentioned.

This past weekend, I attended the 60th Philly Non-Sports Card Show in Allentown, Pa. This isn’t the first time I’ve been there, but every time I go I’m amazed at how much of that industry still exists.

I grew up with movie cards, sports cards, and collectible card games. Sure, I stopped collecting sports cards and I don’t collect Magic: The Gathering cards like I used to, but that obviously doesn’t mean everyone else kept up with their hobbies.