Since I keep recommending books these days, I have to give a hearty 2 eyes open to the book I'm reading now.

Dungeons & Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture From Geek to Chic.

It's what it says, a history of computer games and the culture of gaming, both computerwise and pen & paper roleplaying. It's pretty snappy and has lots of neat anecdotes. While I enjoy it because I grew up gaming like a lot of the people in the book did, it's also an interesting insight into why people game and how geeks like me think :)

It does focus mainly on Richard Garriot, aka Lord British, who founded Origin Systems and made the Ultima RPG games amongst others. However, it ranges all over the place with stories about Gary Gygax, Warren Spector and others.

Go read it.

This means you, Liam. I think you'd really get into the book. Plus everyone else out there who wants to have a glimpse into how my brain works (at least partially) would get a kick out of it, as half the stuff in the book describes me and my relationship to games while growing up!

The sad thing is that if you put someone from Wired and someone from CNet together at a keyboard, they can actually write an interesting book. There are a few wierd phrasings that may be either sloppy editing or lack of writing skill, but on the whole it's pretty good.