GameTek by Geoffrey Engelstein is an interesting collection of short essays about gaming, mostly about the theory, mathematics, physics, and statistics/probability of games, but there is also quite a bit on the philosophy and psychology of gaming as well.

In fact, games and gaming are referred to often but this book definitely does not go into detail behind any specific games. I would say games are just the media used to talk about all of those underlying subjects. And I guess that’s why I left feeling a little bit disappointed – there was much more theory than practical discussion of games. And since I’m not a gamer, most of the games that were mentioned I did not know, but unfortunately Mr. Engelstein didn’t give me enough to want to find out more.

As in any collection, there were some hits, and some misses among the essays/podcasts/topics. But overall an interesting read, just not what I was expecting.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from HarperCollins Publishers via NetGalley. Thank you!