I’ve never seen a better book about games for people who have zero interest in games. For intelligent people who can’t understand why these weird amusements compel the allegiance of millions, this is an excellent primer. It won’t make you play any games, but you’ll fully understand why and how they work, and also where they’re going. If you are already a veteran game designer, you might find the book’s coaxing, limpid, rather sing-song approach to be mildly irritating. Jesse Schell is not a guy who normally writes long, abstruse texts, and he might have been more terse. Also, he’s so in love with his industry that he rather soft-peddles its harshness to the labor force. However, if you’re nineteen, and you have no idea why you adore videogames — you’re just enchanted by them, you can’t help yourself — dude, is this ever the book for you. You are the core demographic for this particular textual experience. Put down the hand-controller, read the book right now. I can promise you that you will grow in moral and intellectual stature. Instead of remaining a twitchy, closeted, joystick geek, like you are now, you will emerge from this patient master-class as a surprisingly broadminded adult who quotes Herman Hesse and appreciates improvisational theater and Impressionist painting. You will no longer kill off parties with your Warcraft fixation. Instead, other people your age will find themselves mysteriously drawn to you — to your air of quiet sympathy, your contemplative depth. Wise beyond your years, you will look beyond the surface details of shrieking monsters and into the deeper roots of human experience.