Download or read book Seven Games A Human History written by Oliver Roeder and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.

Download or read book It Isn t Just a Game written by Owen Schoenfeld and published by Tate Publishing. This book was released on 2009-12 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alex and Corey had a great setup. One would watch the White Sox game on TV, while the other would play as the White Sox in the latest sports videogame. It worked out great for the first outs, as the videogame's strikeouts matched those of the real players. However, when the game stays mysteriously tied to the events of the actual game, Alex and Corey begin to wonder if it's more than coincidence. Imaginations run wild as they plan their summer around the gamea "they're on a winning streak and they can't afford for the Sox to lose! Could they possibly help the Sox win the World Series? Is it possible that It Isn't Just a Game? Join the authors in this exciting tale of how a game can be more than just a game."

Download or read book But It s Just a Game written by Julia Cook and published by National Center for Youth Issues. This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "But Mom, it's just a game." Meet Jasper! A young boy who is totally absorbed with playing video games... "With my game controller in my hands, I'm the boss of my whole world! I can be who I want and do as I please. I can get the highest score. I get all the chances that I need. If I make a mistake it's ok. Everyone thinks I'm 'it on a stick!' And the bad stuff all goes away." Video game addiction is on the rise, but it can be prevented. This creative story book teaches both kids and adults how to switch out their game controller for a "life controller." Video gaming is becoming a part of our culture, and we must be strategic in creating a healthy gaming balance.

Download or read book Trapped in a Video Game written by Dustin Brady and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesse Rigsby hates video games—and for good reason. You see, a video game character is trying to kill him. After getting sucked in the new game Full Blast with his friend Eric, Jesse starts to see the appeal of vaporizing man-size praying mantis while cruising around by jet pack. But pretty soon, a mysterious figure begins following Eric and Jesse, and they discover they can't leave the game. If they don't figure out what's going on fast, they'll be trapped for good! With black-and-white illustrations throughout and a cliff hanger at the end of every chapter, this is a great series for kids who think they don’t like to read!

Download or read book The Game Is Not a Game written by Robert Scoop Jackson and published by . This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE GAME IS NOT A GAME IS AN INSIGHTFUL, UNAPOLOGETIC EXPOSÉ OF THE INTERSECTION OF SPORTS, CULTURE, AND POLITICS FROM VETERAN JOURNALIST ROBERT SCOOP JACKSON.

Download or read book When It Was Just a Game written by Harvey Frommer and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-09-30 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by acclaimed sports author and oral historian Harvey Frommer and with an introduction by pro football Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, When It Was Just a Game tells the fascinating story of the ground-breaking AFL–NFL World Championship Football game played on January 15, 1967: Packers vs. Chiefs. Filled with new insights, containing commentary from the recently discovered unpublished memoir of Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram, and featuring oral history from many who were at the game—media, players, coaches, fans—the book presents back story and front story in the words of those who lived it and saw it go on to become the Super Bowl, the greatest sports attraction the world has ever known. Archival photographs and drawings help bring the event to life.

Download or read book More Than Just a Game written by Madison Moore and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at how Black players came to shine on the basketball court.

Download or read book More Than Just a Game written by Chuck Korr and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Timed perfectly for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Chuck Korr and Marvin Close's More Than Just a Game tells the timeless true story of how political prisoners under apartheid found hope and dignity through soccer. In the hell that was Robben Island, inmates united courageously in an act of protest. Beginning in 1964, they requested the right to play soccer during their exercise periods. Denied repeatedly, they risked beatings and food deprivation by repeating their request for three years. Finally granted this right, the prisoners banded together to form a multi-tiered, pro-level league that ran for more than two decades and served as an impassioned symbol of resistance against apartheid. Former Robben Island inmate Nelson Mandela noted in the documentary FIFA: 90 Minutes for Mandela, "Soccer is more than just a game.... The energy, passion, and dedication this game created made us feel alive and triumphant despite the situation we found ourselves in."

Download or read book Not a Game written by Kent Babb and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-21 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Allen Iverson transcended race, celebrity, and pop culture and emerged from a troubled past to become one of the most successful and highly compensated athletes in the world. Babb examines what drove his successes and failures, getting behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of Iverson-- the hard-charging, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last. He brings to life a private, loyal, and often generous Allen Iverson who rarely made the headlines, revealing the back story behind some of Iverson's most memorable moments, and delves deep to discover where Iverson's demons lurked. Over time, Iverson himself came to believe his own hype: that he lived in a world where celebrity is eternal and riches are everlasting.

Download or read book Not Just a Game written by Doug Zipes and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2016-04-27 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is 1936 as track star Dietrich Becker trains for the Berlin Olympics. Supported by his wife and an unknown benefactor, Dietrich is hiding a dangerous secret: he is Jewish. But when he unexpectedly loses to the legendary Jesse Owens, a humiliated Dietrich crumbles under overwhelming pressure and makes a decision that changes everything. Thirty-six years later, Dietrichs son, Adam, assistant head of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team, travels to Munich, where eleven Israeli athletes including one of his friends, fencing coach Levi Frankel, are murdered by Islamic terrorists. Eventually Adams daughter, Kirsten, is taught to fence by Levis widow and sets her sights on the 2016 Olympics. When she travels to Rio with the Israeli team just as Nazism is reborn, Kirsten and a French fencer become intrigued by rumors that Hitler fled WWII to South America. After visiting Bariloche, Argentina to investigate, they explore Hitlers house and find the priceless Amber Room. As her journey leads her back to the Olympics, Kirsten soon discovers she is fighting not just to win gold but also for her life. Not Just a Game is the riveting story of three generations of Olympic athletes as they attempt to survive monumental challenges in the shadow of Hitler and during a rebirth of Nazism.

Download or read book The Game written by Neil Strauss and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hidden somewhere, in nearly every major city in the world, is an underground seduction lair. And in these lairs, men trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to charm women. This is not fiction. These men really exist. They live together in houses known as Projects. And Neil Strauss, the bestselling author and journalist, spent two years living among them, using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity. The result is one of the most explosive and controversial books of the last decade—guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever. On his journey from AFC (average frustrated chump) to PUA (pick-up artist) to PUG (pick-up guru), Strauss not only shares scores of original seduction techniques but also has unforgettable encounters with the likes of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Heidi Fleiss, and Courtney Love. And then things really start to get strange—and passions lead to betrayals lead to violence. The Game is the story of one man's transformation from frog to prince to prisoner in the most unforgettable book of this generation.

Download or read book Reality Is Broken written by Jane McGonigal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-01-20 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies.” —The Boston Globe “Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better.” —San Jose Mercury News “Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games. Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.

Download or read book It s All a Game written by Tristan Donovan and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[A] timely book...It’s All a Game provides a wonderfully entertaining trip around the board, through 4,000 years of game history."—The Wall Street Journal Board games have been with us longer than even the written word. But what is it about this pastime that continues to captivate us well into the age of smartphones and instant gratification? In It’s All a Game, British journalist and renowned games expert Tristan Donovan opens the box on the incredible and often surprising history and psychology of board games. He traces the evolution of the game across cultures, time periods, and continents, from the paranoid Chicago toy genius behind classics like Operation and Mouse Trap, to the role of Monopoly in helping prisoners of war escape the Nazis, and even the scientific use of board games today to teach artificial intelligence how to reason and how to win. With these compelling stories and characters, Donovan ultimately reveals why board games--from chess to Monopoly to Settlers of Catan, and more--have captured hearts and minds all over the world for generations.

Download or read book Game written by Walter Dean Myers and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thrilling basketball story from New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers is a strong choice for independent reading and sharing in the classroom. Thought-provoking and packed with court action, Game is a winner. Drew Lawson knows basketball is taking him places. It has to, because his grades certainly aren't. But lately his plan has run squarely into a pick. Coach has handed the ball to another player—Tomas, a new guy from Europe—and Drew won't let anyone disrespect his game. Just as his team makes the playoffs, Drew must come up with something big to save his fading college prospects. It's all up to Drew to find out just how deep his game really is. "There’s plenty of basketball here, but, as in any good sports novel, more is going on than the sport; life is the game, and this is a sensitive portrait of a likable young man, his family, city and dreams." (Kirkus starred review) "In this story of a teen who dreams of making it big in the NBA, Myers returns to the theme that has dominated much of his serious fiction: How can young black urban males negotiate the often-harsh landscape of their lives to establish a sense of identity and self-worth? As always, Myers eschews easy answers." (School Library Journal) Walter Dean Myers was a New York Times bestselling author, Printz Award winner, five-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, two-time Newbery Honor recipient, and the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Maria Russo, writing in the New York Times, called Myers "one of the greats and a champion of diversity in children’s books well before the cause got mainstream attention."

Download or read book It s Not Just a Game written by Eric Crookshank and published by Nimbus Publishing (CN). This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where I am today all started from the bottom. I want to tell the story of my journey from there to here.Refusing to become a victim of his circumstances, Eric Crookshank went from a child counting his father's drug money to a university graduate with a degree in business administration; from a benched teenager with dreams of conquering the basketball court to the captain of the National Basketball League of Canada's Halifax Rainmen.Eric Crookshank has become a role model to a new generation of basketball players, both on and off the court. In this powerful story, Crookshank invites us to experience the highs and lows of his life so far as he overcomes adversity and grows into a leader.--Alison Jenkins

Download or read book Game Addiction written by Neils Clark and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-06-08 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An eleven-year-old boy strangled an elderly woman for the equivalent of five dollars in 2007, then buried her body under a thin layer of sand. He told the police that he needed the money to play online videogames. Just a month later, an eight-year-old Norwegian boy saved his younger sister's life by threatening an attacking moose and then feigning death when the moose attacked him--skills he said he learned while playing World of Warcraft. As these two instances show, videogames affect the minds, bodies, and lives of millions of gamers, negatively and positively. This book approaches videogame addiction from a cross-disciplinary perspective, bridging the divide between liberal arts academics and clinical researchers. The topic of addiction is examined neutrally, using accepted research in neuroscience, media studies, and developmental psychology.

Download or read book The Game written by Terry Schott and published by Game Is Life. This book was released on 2019-03-03 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He didn't know he was playing.Zack was just living his life.It was really a game.When he started to ask questions, everything changed. Zack wasn't supposed to figure it out. He could ruin everything.Zack was disoriented when he woke up. They had welcomed him back. He didn't know where he'd been. He just remembered being 74 and near death.They said he was seventeen.What was this "best score" they kept going on about?Where was this place?Who were these people?And why did they keep talking about the next game?You'll love the first book in the series and get lost in the elaborate world created by Terry Schott. It will keep you turning pages until the end.Get book 1 now.