2024:
BELL, R.C. Board and Table Games from Many civilizations ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
Sometimes the reading goes a bit too much in the direction of either board game or history without balancing it well, but it's a great book for enthusiasts on both topics.
HAN, Byung-Chul. The Burnout Society ⭐⭐★★★
A short and interesting read, but it feels like the philosophic essay equivalent of "this could be a Medium post".
CIXIN, Liu. The Three-Body Problem ⭐⭐⭐★★
A very interesting sci-fi premise that got derailed with hard sci-fi shenanigans and unfulfilling lore exposition midway. There are really good ideas in the book if you are willing to look the other way of the wreck done in the second half, though.
ITO, Junji. Sensor ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
A bit horror, a bit lovecraftian, very much Junji Ito. It's the first complete story I read from him, and I quite enjoyed it.
2023:
AURELIUS, Marcus. Meditations ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
It's the most historically interesting book I've read. The translation I bought from Gregory Hays also made a great job making the book much more accessible and easy to understand.
CELESTE, Ng. Little fires everywhere ⭐★★★★
Had some interesting and well written bits, but in the end you could explain every character action with "Because they were born like this", with no believable development in any of the character stories. It's a novel in which every character is a shallow caricature of itself.
NOAH, Trevor. Born a crime ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
In equal parts hilarious, thought-provoking and heartbreaking, an amazing read through and through.
TCHEKOV, Anton. O monge negro ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
Great read. Haven't got much into Tchekov (yet), but reading this really short book really makes me delve deeper in more stories like this.
JOYCE, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ⭐⭐⭐★★
I was sympathetic with the protagonist's relationship with religion throughout the book (coincidently, I also studied in a jesuit school). I enjoyed the emotional development a lot, even with the context-heavy parts regarding Irish history and aesthetics philosophy exposition.
MEYER, Stephanie. Life and Death ⭐⭐★★★
The Twilight Saga is my guilty pleasure, so this was an entertaining book to read - but mostly because I read Twilight around 12 years ago, since the book itself it almost a carbon copy of Twilight with some interesting changes.
MOORE, Alan, et al. V for Vendetta ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A timeless classic, but feels ever more important on a world as divided politically as today. It's endlessly quotable, has brilliant characters, and the art is like watching the most important frames of a perfectly paced movie.
MEIER, Sid. Memoir! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Absolutely amazing book. Sid Meier is a brilliant storyteller, and the book contains invaluable insights not only for Game Designers, but for anyone with a creative spirit. It's a book I'll certainly read again in the future.
HODENT, Celia. The psychology of Video Games ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
A very short book and general introduction to psychology and UX in video-games. Hodent does an amazing job as a scientist disproving common misconcepts about "popular psychology" such as left/right side of the brain, and showing the importance of good scientific coverage.
POPPER, Karl. The Logic of scientific discovery ⭐⭐⭐★★
The later half of the book was unintereting to me and I ended up skimming through it, but the first half of the book is surprisingly readable for anyone with light academic background, and it shows how the falsifiability concept impacted modern scientific methodology.
KUSHNER, David. Masters of Doom ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It reads like a TV series, romaticized but throughly entertaining. It also gives a great glimpse on America's digital entertainment culture, from it's birth until the aftermath of the Columbine shooting.
SCHELL, Jesse. 2008. The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses ⭐⭐⭐★★
Some chapters aged quite badly, specially in the first half of the book. Besides that, it's a good "Game Design 101" reference (as long as you filter it properly), it covers a lot of ground without going too deep in anything, and give some interesting insights. The ending was really special, too.
2022:
BETT, Sam. Ask Iwata ⭐⭐⭐⭐★
It was quite a pleasant read, and the book takes a lot of care describing the life of someone I always admired. It also contains invaluable leadership lessons from one of the most important CEO's of the modern gaming industry.
LINSPECTOR, Clarice. Paixão segundo GH ⭐⭐⭐★★
The first book from Clarice Linspector I've ever read, and I didn't know it was one of the most difficult too. Relatable in a way that is difficult to explain, and almost surreal in its narrative. Although difficult, I enjoyed it.
