Masters of Doom

How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture

By: David Kushner

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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)

A fantastic story

What a flashback I just had. Hearing the story about all the games I grew up with was a blast. Kushner wrote a passionate book about something he clearly loves and respects and it was delivered by Wil Wheaton in such a way it’s impossible not to get attached to the people in it. An amazing story about the most important milestone in gaming. Thanks !!

Great book to describe early computer game history

This book was fantastic. The 1980 memories flooded back of late night sessions of Dungeon and Dragons, drinking Mountain Dew, and spending quarters at the arcade . I tried to learn to program computers in high school, but I could never grasp the concepts. I do remember the first computers were over sized calculators, so I never had to deal with punch cards.

I enjoyed reading how John Carmack and John Romero complimented each other in the early days. When I first played Doom, I thought my parents would had made me return this game if I stilled lived at home. If I were to chose which one to befriend it would be John Carmack because John Romero was too wild.

An excellent story

I'm too young to remember games before DOOM, but it was one of the very first things I remember about video games and computers. This story, performed so elegantly by Wheaton, has inspired me to rethink my life choices, to rethink if I want to switch from my current job to something more creative. I will no doubt be relistening to this tale more than once.

Fun and insightful

What made the experience of listening to Masters of Doom the most enjoyable?

This book gave much insight into the hidden world of game programmers. After reading Ready Player One by E.Cline I had to know more about these guys and how the gaming world evolved. Highly recommended!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Commander Keen! Because it started it all!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes but having to change flights resulted in multiple sittings.

Great for road trips

What a cool story. Even down to the reasons why carmacks hacks sped up his games. A total classic

I thought I knew this story before..

This true story of the birth of the first person shooter is highly entertaining and stays interesting throughout, 10/10

Time machine

A must read for any gamer of the early 90s.
Wil wheatons performance fits perfectly.

Excellent book, 20 year gamedev here!

So glad I gave this audiobook a shot!

I got into the game industry in 1999 because of id’s games as a teenager. Shawn Green was my lead on Halo PC and I can attest to the vibe he brought along, jokes, heavy metal, long hair and definitely trash talking during our multiplayer sessions!

Small team development with like-minded people is an absolute blast, long hours included. They definitely had fun as id was born!

The stories presented here are accurate for game startups and as both Johns learned, as companies scale things change and can become much more difficult then previously seen.

Anyhow, stop reading this and buy this right now! They go into great detail on the backstory of your favorite games and how Carmack’s technology and innovation propelled them over and over again to deliver groundbreaking games!

10/10 A++

Extremely talented narrator

Loved the story and can totally relate to the protagonists. It tops it with a narrator which seems extremely passionate towards the material.

More

The only glaring issue with this book is the ending. It has one. I need to look through the author's other works, I am really hoping that he has some more biographies and histories about the gaming industry, because the ending left me hungry. If you have any interest in gaming or game development, you are going to love this book.

NOTE: He really does need to update the epilogue, though. Carmack has been gone from id for years and Armadillo went belly up. But he was with Oculus for a good chunk of time, and I would love to hear a bit of inside stories on what it was he was doing there. I don't think Romero has been up to much since then, though. All I remember him doing lately is cancelling black room and putting out Sigil.

edit: NVM, he wrote a whole new book that covers a bunch of stuff that happened after this one. Will be reading next.