The name of Sid Meier is instantly recognizable for every gamer in the world. After all, his "Civilization" series today is a classic, and I would say one of the best productions ever made. So it wasn't a surprise for me that his memoirs are so engaging.

It is fascinating to have an insight into the creative process of designing the gameplays and mechanics, but there's more. Meier's long career spans a whole era in the computer industry - his first projects were programmed on punch cards! - so you learn a lot about technological progress made in the last few decades. His writing is brisk and addictive and the audiobook version is well done.

Thanks to the publisher, RB Media, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

Love a lot of Sid Meier's game, so getting his memoir was a no brainer. Loved hearing his stories of his long and storied career.

This was such an awesome geekgasm. I have been a Civilization fan since my late teens and I was very excited to dive into this book. This memoir was so approachable, even for someone like me who doesn’t play a lot of computer games and has only checked out Meier’s Civilization games. This book has the right balance of humor, reflection, interesting anecdotes, and nerdy references.

The book is laid out along a historical timeline, going all the way back to when Meier first started tinkering around with computer programming. Now, I’m not a computer programmer nor do I have any interest in it and yet Meier made this aspect of the story interesting. I never felt lost or bored; rather he gives enough info for knowledgeable folks to nod their heads in agreement and the rest of us to understand the implications of whatever this bit of code does or why that language or platform is important. This memoir is so well balanced in this aspect, keeping an eye on the bigger picture while giving us enough details to make it interesting.

It was pretty cool hearing about Meier’s personal life, from his childhood, to his first marriage, the birth of his firstborn, and then on to his second marriage. I liked the small bits he did share even as he kept the focus on the computer games. I loved the tales about his first business partner – Bill. He had all the salesman’s tricks down; for instance, his trick of calling local game shops pretending to be a potential customer wondering if they have a certain game only to later call as himself asking if he can come by to talk to them about selling their latest computer game. I know it’s a dated gimmick but I bet it could work today with burner phones.

The business evolution was an interesting part of the tale as well. I appreciated hearing about all the pitfalls just as much as the victories. To me, having enjoyed so many hours of Civilization (mostly Civ IV), I was surprised to learn that it was a hard sell at first. I was not aware that Civ was one of the forerunners of strategy computer games, but put into the context of computer limitations at the time, it really makes sense. While I have no interest in flight simulator games or Meier’s golf game, I am curious about his railroad game now. Also, I’m was a little sad to hear about the abandoned dinosaur game.

All around, an excellent memoir about one of the Lords of Geekdom. 5/5 stars.

The Narration: Charles Constant was a good pick for this narration. While I was a little sad at first to see Meier wasn’t narrating his own memoir, sometimes that’s for the best. Narration is a skill and an art and not everyone has that ability. Constant made everything sound interesting and I especially appreciated his hints of emotion at all the right points. I especially liked his Bill the Enthusiastic Pilot voice. The pacing was perfect and there were no technical issues. 5/5 stars.

I received a free copy via NetGalley. My opinions are 100% my own.

The first time I played a Sib Meier game it was the day after my last final in my first semester of my freshman year of college, My neighbor, an engineering student, had the still relatively rare luxury of a personal computer, and showed me his new computer game: "Civilzation" a game where you explore, build cities, research science and technology, trade, and negotiate and fight other civilizations. I played it for the next 12 hours straight.

This is an breezy personal history of the video game industry, told by the man who has made some of the most fun and addicting games out there. It's most interesting for its look into his general design philosophy ("find the fun"), his discussion of game prototypes, the way he approached different genres, and his candidness in describing both his successes and the sheer number of things he got wrong about game trends and technology ("3D and multiplayer are a flash in the pan"). I liked how the book was structured by game rather than by year, but I would have loved to learn more about the design choices and processes he and his teams went through to make the games. While he does include some high level insights ("find the fun" & "good games are a series of interesting choices") he doesn't go very deep into specific games, the industry, or frankly himself. It was a fun memoir, but it was more like reminiscing with an old friend over a beer about good times past. I'm not sure that those who haven't invested countless hours in his games will enjoy it as much as I did.