From school lunchrooms to the White House press room, video games are an integral part of our popular culture, and the industry behind them touches all aspects of our lives, gamer and non-gamer alike. Business and entertainment, health and medicine, politics and war, social interaction and education, all fall under its influence.Virtual Ascendance tells the story of a formerly fringe enterprise that, when few were paying attention, exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry affe...

**A New York Times BestsellerFrom one of our leading technology thinkers and writers, a guide through the twelve technological imperatives that will shape the next thirty years and transform our lives**Much of what will happen in the next thirty years is inevitable, driven by technological trends that are already in motion. In this fascinating, provocative new book, Kevin Kelly provides an optimistic road map for the future, showing how the coming changes in our li...

Learn How to Make Your First Draft Easy!Award-winning author K.M. Weiland’s previous book, the bestselling Outlining Your Novel, showed writers how to embrace outlines in a way that makes the writing process fun, inspiring, and easy.Now it’s time to put those lessons to use! Building upon the principles you’ve already learned, the Outlining Your Novel Workbook presents a guided approach to getting the bones of your story down on paper, ide...

“Irresistible is a fascinating and much needed exploration of one of the most troubling phenomena of modern times.” —Malcolm Gladwell, author of New York Times bestsellers David and Goliath and Outliers“One of the most mesmerizing and important books I’ve read in quite some time. Alter brilliantly illuminates the new obsessions that are controlling our lives and offers the tools we need to rescue our businesses, our famil...

Technology is rapidly moving into our bodies,” writes cyber expert Keenan, and this book gives a chilling look ahead into where that road may lead us on a one way trip to the total surrender of privacy and the commoditization of intimacy.” Here is the definitive dissection of privacy-eroding and life-invading technologies, coming at you from governments, corporations, and the person next door.Take, for example, Girls Around Me”: a Russian-made iPhone App that allowed anyone to...

"A broad and deep look at how electronic media are changing storytelling . . . . Completely fascinating." —Booklist, starred reviewNot long ago we were spectators, passive consumers of mass media. Now, on YouTube and blogs and Facebook and Twitter, we are media. No longer content in our traditional role as couch potatoes, we approach television shows, movies, even advertising as invitations to participate—as experiences to immerse ourselves in at will. Frank Rose ...

"Enough with speculation about our digital future. Infinite Reality is the straight dope on what is and isn't happening to us right now, from two of the only scientists working on the boundaries between real life and its virtual extensions."—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be ProgrammedCan our brains recognize where "reality" ends and "virtual" begins? Where will technology lead us in five, fifty, or five hundred years? An unrivaled ...

"Anna Anthropy is a key personality in the ongoing paradigm shift that is slowly changing the way videogames are understood, by creators and players, and by the wider culture."—Patrick Alexander, Eegra.com"Equal parts autobiography, ethnography, and how-to manual, this book concisely makes the case for the unique power of 'zinester' games."—Adam Parrish, NYU's Interactive Telecommunication Program (Tisch School of the Arts), and author of the ZZT game "Winter"...

How did a Venice Beach T-shirt vendor become television's most successful producer? How did an entrepreneur who started in a garage create the most iconic product launches in business history? How did a timid pastor's son overcome a paralyzing fear of public speaking to captivate sold-out crowds at Yankee Stadium, twice? How did a human rights attorney earn TED's longest standing ovation, and how did a Facebook executive launch a movement to encourage millions of women to "lean in"?

"A history of video games, presented through sharp profiles of their creators." —The New York Times Book ReviewWhat started as a game of Pong, with little blips dancing across a computer screen, has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry that is changing the future, making inroads into virtually all aspects of our culture.Who are the minds behind this revolution? How did it happen? Where is it headed?In Smartbomb, journalist...

Try Part I of Dungeons & Dreamers before you buy the book. If you enjoy what you read, you can purchase the print or digital version at any of your major book retailers, which you'll find in the back of this book.Before you make that decision, you'll first meet Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the creators of Dungeons & Dragons. Just a few years later, Richard Garriott, the son of an astronaut and an artist, as he finds D&D just as he discovers his love of computers at the dawn of the ...

Have you ever wished you could reprogram your brain, just as a hacker would a computer? In this 3-step guide packed with mind hacking techniques**, learn how to take charge of your mind and start** reprogramming thought patterns to banish negative thoughts, habits, and anxiety—in just a 21-day mental transformation**!**A seasoned author, comedian, and entrepreneur, Sir John Hargrave once struggled ...