February 4, 2009
Racing the Beam Buzz
Here’s the latest on Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. Ian and I have done a Q&A about our study of the Atari 2600 over at Powell’s Books, which has Racing the Beam on sale right now. On February 2 Amazon must have been out at the warehouse (good news from a standpoint of reader interest) because their time for delivery jumped up, but Amazon now flows with copies as well. For those who like to read with the ear, Ian offers a lively discussion of the book on this month’s MIT Press podcast, in the second segment of the program, after Stephen H. Axilrod talks about his Inside the Fed.
We’ve been pleased to read blog buzz and twitter talk of the book so far, and will look forward to reviews that discuss Racing the Beam, not to mention inquiries about and proposals for the Platform Studies series. For now, I’ll close by pointing out the kind endorsements (scroll down a bit) that were offered by Chris Crawford, Matt Kirschenbaum, and Alex Galloway.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I just finished a review of Racing The Beam. Really enjoyed the book as it talked as much about the environment (cultural, business practises) of the time as the technology as well as some interesting trivia – like Atari setting up different companies to avoid regulations. About the only thing missing I think was why it was the Atari came out on top, seems like it was mostly luck and many more resources. I’m looking forward to more books in the series.
Link: http://yyztech.ca/reviews/book/racing-the-beam-the-atari-video-computer-system