Game Studies Books

I lost my floorcloth books in Katrina and this is the only one that I'm going to replace. I don't need anything else! The authors give you ideas for simple and more difficult floorcloths. Their instructions for various techniques are precise and easy to follow. The other reviewer was right, saying that she would be using the ideas from this book for years!

I love making my own decorations but I like to finish projects that look tasteful and as nice (or better) than anything I could buy. You can't go wrong with this book, whether you are just starting out or looking for a larger challenge. There are some easier projects as well as ones that are more difficult. You could spend years using this book and not run out of ideas. Plenty of full-color photos, step by step directions and techniques. Worth every penny you spend on this one!

I love making my own decorations but I like to finish projects that look tasteful and as nice (or better) than anything I could buy. You can't go wrong with this book, whether you are just starting out or looking for a larger challenge. There are some easier projects as well as ones that are more difficult. You could spend years using this book and not run out of ideas. Plenty of full-color photos, step by step directions and techniques. Worth every penny you spend on this one!

I borrowed this book from a friend and had to buy a copy for myself. It gets your right-brain in high gear. If you're looking for the cutesy, folksy arts & crafts flowing out of China these days, forget this one. But if you like to create and like the unique, this is it. Even if you've never did a cloth before, this book will show you step by step and lead you to create a work of art!

I love making my own decorations but I like to finish projects that look tasteful and as nice (or better) than anything I could buy. You can't go wrong with this book, whether you are just starting out or looking for a larger challenge. There are some easier projects as well as ones that are more difficult. You could spend years using this book and not run out of ideas. Plenty of full-color photos, step by step directions and techniques. Worth every penny you spend on this one!

Great revelation came to me out of this book!! I am undergoing transformation and I am amazed at the insight and clarity this book brings! I have recommended this book to several of my friends and have even purchased this book for family and friends!! I have never read a book that brought so much healing into my life and not only healing but as it has transformed me I am seeing a transformation in my family!! Thanks you so much for sharing your life story!! Thru your book, I am seeing my life story in the pages I have read!! I am expecting great things to come out of the insight I am receiving!! Thanks!

This is quite an excellent compilation of information, support, and permission to help you on your journey to becoming the woman you want to be.
Shaevitz covers every area of life with plenty of suggestions, so this is not just a theoretical book, but a very pragmatic one.
Her style is clear and easy to read.
As a self-help reference guide it might be something you come back to when you have lost your way. A spark to ignite you toward authenticity, wholeness, and peace.

I don't know why other reviewers gave this author five stars. This book is not for working women or married women with no kids,but just for moms. But I don't think this book has a positive influence on readers. This book is indeed prejudiced and disgusting. The author strived for finding out all bad things men did toward women from history of many countries. She says something like "Don't feel victimized." But she described her experiences and women's history as victimized ! She also speaks down on readers and I felt as if she repeated to me,"You are not intelligent.","I'm intelligent and I'm very confident of myself". Also,she seems to have a racial prejudice..I, as an Asian woman,felt so insulted and angry. By this book,my depression became worse ! I'll never buy this author's book !

If you really want to be confident of yourself,read Marilyn Sorensen Ph.D's "Breaking the Chain of Low Self-Esteem". This book changed my life and saved my life.

I happened to come across this book at our local library, and had just brushed through a few pages with the aim of getting some tips for increasing my confidence, which I have always worked on. Now, the moment I started reading this book, there was no looking back. Now, I have finished reading, and am renewing this book, only because I want to take down the notes and keep with me as an asset. Marjorie has wonderfully explained the ways how a woman can become CONFIDENT in her life, at home and at work. I probably am running short of the exact words to explain the worth of this, I would say, it's a must read for anyone who wants to gain her confidence.

Now, I was sorry to read the review of an Asian reader who posted a poor review on November 12, 2001. I am also an Asian now living in the US, a newly married woman, taking a break temporarily from my work life. Still, I have been able to relate most of the topics with myself. There are probably a few cultural differences from Asia, but when I read some topics related to them, I just read through them, just learning a few insights into the Western culture. Besides, Marjorie has clearly mentioned in her initial chapter that she has written this mainly from the Western perspective on the meaning of 'Soul' etc. Also, I feel Marjorie has well put the words needed to raise the confidence levels of women who have not really grown to their potentials. In fact, 'Let's get practical' chapter, I feel, can even be ready by men, ignoring the specific topics mentioned only for women!

I would definitely recommend this book if you want to raise your confidence levels

After going throug a particulary rough patch, I found myself rather depressed and my confidence was at an all time low. I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend, and am really glad I did!

The author lists several reasons that women, as a group, may lack confidence, even when their lives have been fairly productive, and I found that interesting, but in my opinion, the best part of the book was the self rating quiz. This confirmed my feeling that I was in a real slump.

The next part of the book had really excellent exercises that helped me clarify my values, wants and desires. The aim was to help me get back in touch with who I really am, and who I want to become. what I like and dislike, what I want to "be, do and have" and generally just get back in touch with what was and wasn't important in my life.

The next section of the book dealt with practical ways to act on what I'd learned in the values clarification exercises, and how to "get it in gear" and take an active role in mazimizing things that made me happy, and minimizing those that left me feeling like a used dishrag.

I have to tell you that it perked me right back up in the first week! I'm now putting those positive things back into my life, slowly but consistantly, and feel far more hopeful and focused than I did before the book arrived.

This book did a lot to boost my morale, and level of confidence, and that was just exactly what I seemed to need right now.

I hope other readers will find it as benifical as I have.

The book may be all of the things everyone says, but my copy has completely fallen apart. We did not abuse this book in any way, pages simply started falling out of it. It was poorly made. Amazon has refused to replace it since it purchased it over 30 days ago. Apparently, they do not stand behind faulty merchandise they sell. In any case, who wants a book where 1/2 the pages are falling out? I recommend that you do not purchase this, simply because it's poorly constructed. Or, buy it from a different retailer who will replace it if your copy starts to self destruct as mine did.

Great book for all ages. A lot of the pictures don't need stories to accompany them, they speak for themselves. Excellent book to read and also to give as a gift to any young up and coming athlete.

I saw the exhibit of the photographs in this book at the Smithsonian a year and a half ago and I was captivated. I knew immediately that I wanted this book. As an athlete myself, I know what all the stages of sports really are and I connected with the emotions expressed in the litte stories throughout the book. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially developing female athletes, because it is inspirational and exhilarating!!

For every woman who loves sports and the women who actively persue them this is a must book! Pictures and information are outstanding, informative and thought provoking. Everything from our newest heroes to women in the past that some of us may not have even recognized. I enjoyed every page of this book and have even ordered it as gifts for friends who like me love to see females who excel in their fields.

This is a fabulous book for girls -- I have started getting it as a Bat Mitzvah present for nieces etc. who are into sports!

But it was also fascinating for myself as an adult to read through it. Their definition of "sports" is quite broad -- far beyond the usual basketball/soccer/etc. -- and the photos include women of all ages, races and body types. The essays by women athletes are also quite varied, offbeat and honest -- much more interesting than the typical magazine interview with star athletes.

My daughter has loved the I Spy board books since I first checked one out of the library for her (and then went on to buy about 4 of them). She just turned 2 and this is her favorite book, hands down. We read it every night and she can't get enough of it. She's can identify almost all of the letters and gets a big kick out of it. Unlike some of the other I Spy books, the letters really aren't "hidden" as with the other editions. I didn't like this until we started reading it. Maybe if they were hidden it'd be too much for a child just learning to ID the letters? I don't know, but I know lots of kiddies turning 2 this year and I'll be buying this book as part of their gift!

My son loves this book. He loves to identify the letters and objects he knows as well as learn the names of new ones.

We received this book as a gift for my 2 year old son and he LOVES it! This book, more than anything else, has been amazing in helping him identify the alphabet. He is much further ahead regarding his ABCs than his peers and I think this book is the reason. It is much more simple than the other I Spy books that we own and at first this bummed me out, but after reading it over and over, I think the simplicity helps him concentrate on identifying the letters and not getting lost in the objects. I especially like that the objects that are there start with the letter on the same page. For example on the page with the E, there is also an elephant. This gives us lots of cues for further discussion about each letter. The last page is my son's favorite, which has all of the letters and we always sing the ABC song while he points to each letter. I also recommend I Spy Little Numbers.

My 3 year old loves the I Spy computer games so I got him this I spy book for letters (which he still needs help recognizing). It is a very cute book - several images for each letter and cleverly done. I just wish it were bigger so we can spend more time with it. Overall, a good buy in a small boardbook.

My sister in law, a Kindergarten teacher, highly recommended this book. She read it to her son all the time and she couldn't believe when he started to learn his letters. The rhyming is enjoyable to little ears and fun for parents to read, the colors are simple and bold and there is a lot of growth to this book. You can start my just reading, then naming objects as they get older. I always sing the alphabet song at the end where the entire alphabet is listed. Each letter is filled in with what it starts with. For example: dots in D, water in W, kites in K. I bought the numbers which is good too - but if you get one, the alphabet is the best!

POSSIBLY ONE OF THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE BOOKS ON THR MAKING OF WOODEN PLANES MEASUREMENTS AND DESIGN ARE VERY CLEAR AND SO IS THE EXPLANATIONS ON HOW TO MAKE IT .I AM BUSY MAKING MY FIRST BLOCK PLANE FOR PEOPLE THAT CANT AFFORD TO BUY TOOLS LIKE ME THIS IS IDEAL WAY TO GO AND BY THE THE WAY I AM 60 YEARS OF T AGE I WORK ALONE WITH ONE OTHER PERSON AND I MAKE SOLID WOOD FURNITURE AND MY MAIN INCOME IS THE MAKING OF KITCHENS AND FURNITURE AND I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AN AVID LEARNER OF OTHER PEOPLES WORK I AM SELF TAUGHT MAINLY BY READING OTHER PEOPLES WORK I OWN OVER 500 BOOKS AND IM STILL BUYING WHEN I CAN AFFORD

How about 10 stars?

This is the best "how to" book I have ever read. Bar none. I went out to [...] to look at his Mr. Finck's work and he is the real deal. I have seen (and touched) his work in person and it is miraculous. The surfaces on his furniture are so fine and his designs are so lovely that in my view, the man is a national treasure. It is a wonderful gift to the woodworking community that Mr. Finck has imparted his knowledge in a manner as as fine as his woodworking.

Mr. Finck, thank you! And write another book!!!

Well it didn't change the way I think about woodworking or even give me an epiphany. But it does tell you everything you need to know to build a plane.
A very useful reference. I wish it had better pictures! The text is 5 stars but the illustrations are not at that level. Something like this that you have to do with your hands needs much better pictures.

I love wooden planes and have several old ones that I have bought at garage sales. I am very interested in building my own wooden hand planes.

I have several articles that I have downloaded or found in books on making tools that use the same building technique as in this book, which is using a bandsaw to cut cheeks off of the sides of the center section rather than trying to cut the opening using a chisel. These articles gave me the basic technique but I wanted something with more detail to help me do a precise job.

This book is very detailed and offers the instruction needed to build very high quality planes. It even has instruction on building the special tools needed to fine tune and adjust the plane design as well as instruction on grinding and sharpening the plane iron.

The book does not give specific dimensions and drawings but rather takes the approach of giving you the information you need to design and build any plane you want.

Just what I needed!

There is lots of great information in this book, but unfortunately I found it too disorganised. I used it in conjunction with David Marks DIY segment on European planes and in that manner it was very handy to have as a shop reference. A worthwhile book to have as a reference book, but not as a how too. Overall I am satisfied with it, but if I did not have the DIY segment to refer to it would have been difficult (not at all impossible) to build the plane using this book alone.

An "excellent" book. A story detailing many people, but, in particular a person of "exceptional ability" and "train wreck" personality. A book everyone should read and learn from. It's a "fine line" that seperates any of us from following the path "Darryl Strawberry" took. Get it, Read it, Pass it on.

I have to say, I was a little mislead by the subtitle of this book, Darryl Strawberry and the boys of Crenshaw. I was expecting the book to give me more about the boys, and what happened to them, both during their days at Crenshaw and afterwards.
The author provides some of that, but he also provides alot of social commentary. Now, while it was interesting to learn of the conditions of the prisons in the 1990s, and the affect of the three strikes law, I wanted to learn more about what happened to the guys, and why. To hear more about baseball.
Still, overall it's a good book. Just doesn't really delve too deeply into it's title subjects.

One of the greatest anomalies associated with athletics is that the "Best" are many times not successful. Talk to any professional athlete and they can tell you stories about great athletes that they played with or against that were better than they were, or even better than anyone that they had ever seen, but didn't make it to the pros or into to world class competitions. The variables of injuries, families, lack of discipline, luck or just plain life can wreck the possibility of any athletic career. Every practice, game, interview or even date can end the journey. More than any other profession, whether they show respect for it or not, professional athletes will tell you that they are one of the luckiest people on Earth. Their talent, luck and extreme level of desire does set them apart from most mortal men. The Ticket Out is one of the best presentations on how Life plus Sports usually just equals Life.

The Boys Of Crenshaw each had all the talent and training requirements necessary to be successful professional baseball players. Although they didn't really know it then, their team is American legend and they provide us with a very compelling drama. As a team they were the perfect research data pool to logically examine life and sports. As a group whose careers were not affected by major injuries their results of everything from incarceration with "three strikes" to one of the greatest natural home run hitters to ever play the game really does cover all possibilities, except the status of hero.

Sports or not, everyone in the game of life is dealt a hand. Even a group of the "Best of the Best" still have to deal with their own personal hand of cards. The Ticket Out shows how if you start in South Central Los Angeles, trying to be successful in any profession, it's a challenge. Although the exposure and training is there, the baggage a Black family carries to California in a migration for a better life can be a lot to overcome. Also children growing up in a community that is not always honest with itself can make life very daring.

Through baseball, The Ticket Out is really a great story about how South Central Los Angeles was created and how it can effect even the greatest talents. This baseball book about life is very interesting. I think we need more books that use our common interests to discuss our lives.

The most disturbing thing for any real baseball fan will be the lack of discussion about Lee May, who did have a real professional baseball career.

Unfortunately, people that are not into baseball will probably not buy this book and miss out on one of the most simple yet informative discussions on prison terms and the "three strikes" laws that you will ever find.

I'm a baseball fan and The Ticket Out provides a lot of interesting baseball and a lot of Daryl Strawberry legend, but it's really about Life + Sports = Life.

This book was truly an outstanding piece of work. When I purchased it, I thought it would mostly be about Darryl Strawberry and a little about the others. I was wrong, Michael Sokolove does an outstanding job researching (and you can see he has spent countless hours finding out information about all the players and Brooks Hurst) and portraying each of the individuals who made up the team. One gets to know the individuals and the author makes you want to reach out to those who got caught up in the inner city after their opportunity to leave was lost. The only part missing from this book was the only player drafted not to be profiled: Lee Mays. The book leaves you wondering what happened to him.

I could hardly put this book down. It is so much more than a story about baseball. I don't like the Mets, and I never cared for Darryl Strawberry. This book is really about neither. Instead, it is a social commentary about the plight of the black man in one arena of life. The small window of opportunity that some find while it eludes others (or others elude it); The subtle racism that seeps even into sport - it's all in this book, but the author doesn't hit you over the head with it. By the end, you feel compassion for some, pity for others, and rejoice in the triumph of a few. If you are looking for just a baseball book, you need to find a lesser story. This transcends baseball.

I've been learning to do Cryptics from Games Magazine (they have 2 in each issue), and this set from the New Yorker is, as others have said, easier. Still very nice and satisfying for those who like to roll through one in under an hour. They are light, but light in the realm of Cryptics. The instructions and tutorial puzzles are excellent for the beginner.
The quality of the book is excellent. The pages are nice and thick (so the ink doesn't run through). For something meatier try: ISBN 0812935128.

Easy (in terms of cryptic) crosswords that can be solved in about 1/2 hour. Mostly U.S. style, following strict clue construction rules. Few esoteric foreign words and places. Clues are not simply constructed using a computer thesaurus and anagram program. Nicely crafted. Very enjoyable, the best "easy" book I've seen. Spiral format is great.

The spiral bound format and good quality paper is great for puzzling. Two puzzles are squeezed onto every page, so there isn't loads of room for anagramming and such next to the clues, but there's space in the margins.

The puzzle formats are non-standard for American cryptics--there are no black squares. Bold lines indicate the ends of words, and all the grids are 8x10. At least half the letters in any given word are also used in crossing words, but you don't have the strict every-other-letter format. So for EARTH, you'd might pick up E_RT_ from other answers.

The answers have both grids and quick clue breakdowns (a couple of clues do get deeper explanations). The answers to adjoining puzzles are on different pages, so you don't accidentally see answers to the next puzzle.

As everyone else has stated, the puzzles are manageable, but still challenging (and the clues are always fair!). A great cryptic crossword puzzle book.

This book has been my constant companion. The spiral format makes it durable and easy to use. A good first book on cryptics. Hard enough to be fun, easy enough to be solvable, although I've yet to find one I can do in an hour. (2 hours was my best time so far).

I would appreciate for some a bit more elaboration on some of the answers, since the audience has been beginners.

I do hope these puzzlers write another book in the same format.

I've been learning to do Cryptics from Games Magazine (they have 2 in each issue), and this set from the New Yorker is, as others have said, easier. Still very nice and satisfying for those who like to roll through one in under an hour. They are light, but light in the realm of Cryptics. The instructions and tutorial puzzles are excellent for the beginner.
The quality of the book is excellent. The pages are nice and thick (so the ink doesn't run through). For something meatier try: ISBN 0812935128.

This is a wonderful tale of Goliath from David's point of view -- you'll be amazed at what an American business will do to defend its false patent, and it would be downright unbelievable in fiction that a judge would do what a judge actually did -- but you have to believe it because it's there in the court records.

Written with self-effacing humor, this book is a fast and pleasurable read. Unfortunately there's quite a lot of misplaced punctuation (especially quotation marks) that distract from the flow -- but aside from that I find no flaws worth mentioning. Recommended to everyone who's ever played Monopoly (so you can find out what the game you've been playing is *really* about).

This is an entertaining book, and interesting to read about the whole Monopoly inventor scandal and the ramifications of it, but beyond that, the book is extremely biased and full of opinions. One chapter in particular sets up a supposed meeting between the fake inventor and a Parker Bros. executive, in the eyes of how the author thought it probably happened. Admittedly, the author presents it as his opinion only, but personally I prefer to read facts, and think the book would have been better without that possibly false story.

The entire book is (obviously) very biased. If you want to read an objective book about all of this, this probably isn't the one for you. Furthermore, the author's knowledge of antitrust law (particularly toward the end of the book when talking about Hasbro) is not very good. This is the a David v. Goliath story, and the author never lets you forget it. At times, his obsession with establishing who the real inventors of Monopoly are is a bit creepy.

The end of the book includes a pitch for his new board game and computer games, which completely diminished the book, at least in my opinion. It's a book, not an advertisement!

Anyone who loves Monopoly(R), like I do, and thinks they know the story of the game, like I did, will not be able to put this book down! The official story of the game's origin is a lie. For me, the crushing piece of evidence concerns the correct spelling of MarvEn Gardens. Check it out.

Any fan of the Monopoly game or one of the many versions of the game available today will be intrigued by the origin of this fantastic game as told by Anspach through his investigations. The David vs. Goliath battle with the "Microsofts" of the Toy industry, the various owners of Parker Brothers through to Hasbro, Inc. (the current owners), shows how Monopoly is not just their game, but their mission statement and general business goal. Required reading for anyone who ever read The Monopoly Book or The Monopoly Companion.

I found this book riveting and very well-written, a startling indictment of not only Parker Brothers (for claiming false invention of a 30-year old folk game and securing a fraudulent patent)but also of the American judicial system, which clearly will roll over and play dead when confronted with an army of corporate lawyers. While the earlier book by Saxon does discuss a precursor to Monopoly, it says nothing about Parker Brothers' underhanded dealings. Nor does it tell the story of how the game fell into the hands of "inventor" Charles Darrow. Another book on the subject by Orbanes (written essentially by and for Parker Bothers/Hasbro) is merely an attempt to whitewash the whole sticky mess so delightfully uncovered by Mr. Anspach. A fine and fascinating read.

Tanya Thaxton Reid was a mother who almost got away with murder. When her infant daughter, Morgan, died at 9 months of age, the death was attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It was not until Tanya's young son began to suffer from a mysterious illness characterized by recurrent respiratory distress that medical personnel began to think the unthinkable. Was a mother making her own child ill to gain attention for herself? And, years earlier, did a baby die needlessly at the hands of her own mother?

Gregg Olsen tells the riveting story of a young mother driven by overwhelming and compulsive obsessions to harm her own children. Oddly calm and unaffected each time emergency responders reached her home, Tanya would report that her son had suddenly stopped breathing and that she was forced to administer CPR to save his life. Had there not been so many 911 calls and unanswered questions about the child's misunderstood medical problems, Michael Reid may have eventually suffered the same fate as his sister.

In a masterful collaberation by police investigators and prosecutors in two different states, Tanya Reid was finally brought to justice. In chilling black and white detail, using 911 call records as well as existing hospital admission records, an unmistakable pattern emerged that could not be reasonably explained or denied. On almost every documented occasion, Tanya Reid called emergency responders while her husband was at work and there were no other adults present in the home. In a pitiful and shameful attempt to remedy her own feelings of boredom and lonliness, Tanya forcibly smothered her son on multiple occasions. Once at the hospital, Tanya visited with the nursing staff and medical doctors as if greeting old friends. Odd behavior for a mother whose son was on the brink of death moments earlier.

As the mother of 3 little girls, my youngest named Morgan, I was horrified by the images repeatedly witnessed by emergency medical responders. Sweating profusely and limp with exhaustion from the physical struggle of wrestling with his own mother, young Michael Reid gasped for breath and turned a terrified gaze upon his mother. Using the tried and true methods employed by other Munchausen by Proxy mothers, Tanya Reid used several different doctors and admitted Morgan and Michael to different hospitals to disguise her actions and obliterate any suspicious pattern of illness. In the end, her own odd behavior and her inability to stop smothering her son finally garnered more attention than Tanya Reid had anticipated... resulting in a felony conviction for child abuse and the long awaited conviction for the first degree murder of baby Morgan.

Complete with a detailed history for this murderous mother and the denial that permeated her family of origin, Gregg Olsen writes a compelling story about deteriorating mental health, neediness, obsession, and the alarming behavior that defies the laws of nature and morality. True Crime lovers will not be disappointed. Without spoiling the intrigue of the book, I will state that there is a very interesting piece of Tanya Reid's past that was unearthed during the lengthy investigation that served as a symbolic point of reference for all that came after it. Shocking!

Presently, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is rare "disorder" that few people are aware of; but that isn't the case after reading Cruel Deception by Gregg Olson.

MSBP, even today, is difficult to prosecute for lack of evidence. In Cruel Deception, Olson relays the tale of Iowa prosecutors who worked diligently to convict Tanya Reid for MSBP....in the mid-80s!! Their efforts, as detailed in this book, were impressive; especially consider this a pre-internet era!

Cruel Deception is riveting from beginning to end. I especially enjoyed the manner in which Olson tells us of a "devestating secret" that will be revealed at trial ONLY if Tanya Reid testifies. And that secret is well worth waiting for!

Once again Gregg Olson has produced a piece of written work that keeps him on my top ten list of favorite true crime writers!

excellent read,well written. My heart ached for these kids. Well worth the readers time and money. Very informative and may educate people.

Wow, this mother in the book was truly troubled. To say the least!! To cause injury to your own child for the sole purpose of the fact that you need attention or you like the attention is really truly ill. The book baffled me to say the least, I'd only heard of cases of "Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy." I think the author describes it very well, but it's not too overly drawn out.

I just reread this book and was delighted to find it was just as good on the fourth or fifth read as it was the first time. This true account of a Munchausen by proxy perpetrator is utterly fascinating. The author does a superb job of telling Morgan and Michael's stories from their mother's childhood to the inexorable conclusion. It is impossible to put down. I hope this page-turner educates people about the mysterious malady that MBP is and prevents other deaths in the future. Kudos, Mr. Olsen.

Brian Tinsman does an excellent job explaining the inner workings of a difficult industry. He provides real examples of how games have failed and succeeded, how to pitch a game to an agent or manufacturer, and briefly covers self-publishing.

If you are looking into the games industry as a possible business venture, buy this book. It is well worth your time and money.

NOTE: This book is NOT for video game design.

This is a very informative book. It does not talk about how to design a great game, but it talks about the game industry in general and what to do once you have a game that you'd like to get published.

Brian Tinsman knows a lot about a variety of different segments in the board game market. His knowledge is quite impressive and he write in a manner that is easy to understand.

I found this book to be interesting, but not all that insightful. It is written for a beginner or someone who is completely new to the field of board game design. On the other hand, if that is you, you'll find this to be quite helpful.

As a professional toy inventor and manufacturer, I found this book to be right on target. It gives both current and prospective inventors critical the type of ammunition needed to succeed in this highly competitive, extremely speculative business. I wish that I'd read this book when I started out fourteen years ago. Even now I found it helpful to be reminded of some of the basic precepts and underlying structure of the biz.

"The Game Inventor's Guidebook" is a bit of a misleading title as there's very little here to guide an aspiring inventor in getting into the industry beyond the obvious advice to get a broker if you want a shot at penetrating the big companies; and don't sink your life savings into producing a game yourself thinking you're going to strike it rich. Tinsman has put together a respectable, if somewhat lightweight, overview of the industry with brief glimpses at the backstories of some of the more successful games and their inventors that's most appropriate for the gaming aficionado.

NOTE: If you're interested in video game design, look elsewhere.