Review
“Parkin has a deft sense of the ways that video games appeal to and satiate the longings of the spirit...Death by Video Game offers an excellent sociocultural study of the 21st century’s quintessential art form.” —The Washington Post
“For the past decade or so, Tom Bissell has been widely regarded as the best video game writer, and his essay collection Extra Lives the best book about video games. That was true until Simon Parkin’s Death by Video Game...Brainy enough to appeal to even the deepest gamer, and yet accessible enough for the reader who hasn’t picked up a controller in years.” —GQ
“Parkin has...a literary eye for scenic and investigative detail...Demonstrate[s] the importance of thoughtful, serious criticism on gaming and play.”—New York Times Book Review
“This country could use a reexamining of the underlying appeal of video games. Simon Parkin’s book does just that, exploring the different aspects (discovery, evil, competition) that come to captivate player-bases so strongly that individuals will neglect their health to the point of death.” —Flavorwire
“Groundbreaking ... his reportage leads to brilliant, fresh insights ... Accomplishing that rare feat of teaching while entertaining, this work ignites a series of debates crucial to the future of video games.” —Library Journal, starred review
“The finest book on video games yet. Simon Parkin thinks like a critic, conjures like a novelist, and writes like an artist at the height of his powers—which, in fact, he is.” —Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
“Simon Parkin is gaming's Jon Ronson, and his book charts the extremes of the medium to try to answer the question why the hell do we all care about video games anyway?” —Kieron Gillen, writer of Iron Man,Uncanny X-Men, and The Wicked + The Divine
“The best book about video games I've read since I wrote one.” —Steven Poole, author of Trigger Happy
“Fascinating . . . Parkin takes seriously the notion that video games, or some aspects of them, might be bad for us. Yet he also takes video games seriously as a source of solace for a grieving parent or spouse, a safe form of indoor play for Iraqi children in Baghdad, and a helpful way, like any other form of fiction, for humanity to avoid staring too directly at our certain deaths.” —Chris Suellentrop
About the Author
SIMON PARKIN is a journalist whose writing has appeared in NewYorker.com, Harper's Magazine, the Guardian, ESPN, and a number of other publications. Death by Video Game is his first book.
