Phoenix - The Fall & Rise Of VideoGames:
3rd Edition by Leonard Herman
ISBN: 0-9643848-5-X
Rolenta Press (www.rolentapress.com), $24.95
I reviewed this book two years ago, and it’s been updated since then. It was an outstanding deal back then, and has been improved even more over the years.
Phoenix is the definitive history of the video game industry, from Spacewar to the X-Box and all the things that came in between. It’s all here for your enjoyment. The book is laid out in chronological order, and has been changed to a wonderful 8 1/2 by 11 inch format, with many more pictures and fun fact-filled Focus sections throughout. There are over 320+ pages of information, with a foreword by Ralph Baer (the father of video games) and smaller sections on web sites, magazines, and books related to videogames.
If you grew up with any video game system from Atari to the Vectrex, Genesis to the Playstation, you owe it to yourself to get a copy of this book!
(review (c) December 2001 / David Flemming)