Sid Meier's Memoir! cover art

Sid Meier's Memoir!

A Life in Computer Games

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Sid Meier's Memoir!

By: Sid Meier, Jennifer Lee Noonan - contributor
Narrated by: Charles Constant
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About this listen

The life and career of the legendary developer celebrated as the "godfather of computer gaming" and creator of Civilization.

Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry. Writing with warmth and ironic humor, Meier describes the genesis of his influential studio, MicroProse, founded in 1982 after a trip to a Las Vegas arcade, and recounts the development of landmark games, from vintage classics like Pirates! and Railroad Tycoon, to Civilization and beyond.

Articulating his philosophy that a video game should be "a series of interesting decisions", Meier also shares his perspective on the history of the industry, the psychology of gamers, and fascinating insights into the creative process, including his rules of good game design.

©2020 Sid Meier and Jennifer Lee Noonan (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Professionals & Academics Science & Technology Memoir Game Technology Witty Video Game Computer History

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All stars
Most relevant  
A wonderful review of a man, but also a time period many us look back to fondly.

Just great

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Having played many Sid Meier games growing up, this was fascinating. Highly recommend for anyone who has a fondness for his games. Well read as an audiobook

Great trip down memory lane

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A lovely nostalgic look through the development and philosophy of computer games through the life of one of the most influential designers.
It’s well read, heartwarming and uplifting.

My only improvement would be to suggest that the captions for what I presume are photos in the print edition don’t work when read out without any precursor to what they are as they don’t fit in a narrative.
It would have been a great design point if the “achievement unlocked” sections had a highlight in music behind them too.

Fantastic approach to a life lived through games

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Really interesting history of Sid Meier's game development career, with plenty of wit and self-deprecation. Sid is clearly a warm, kind-hearted and humble man who has produced some of the greatest titles in gaming history. This book gives you the inside story behind his thinking, as well as the politics and history of game development in the 80s, 90s and beyond. Really enjoyed this!

Fascinating insight into the Father of Civ

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Awesome insight into the gaming industry, Sid Meier's thought process on making game and his inspiration between games. His history and the gaming world's history of how games have come to be since he has been there from the beginning! Great read/listen

Awesome insight into the world of Sid Meiers

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What a warm, humble and wise man Sid is, and what great company I had during the hours I spent with this book, narrated to perfection by the superbly named Charles Constant. It does start off a touch slow... "is he really going to talk about EVERY game?" I thought after the first half-hour, but this choice was convincingly explained half way through.

It needed one more structural edit to get that fifth star, but the version of it in my head now (with the material rearranged) is full-house worthy. There are a half-dozen ideas here I'm definitely going to use in my life (which barely features any computer games!) like the "doubling or halving" change rule, so you know you're going in the right direction and don't waste time on smaller iterations. Sincere thanks to everyone involved with his book, it was a privilege to hear it.

"May all of your decisions be interesting"

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I rewd this on recommendation although I have never played one of Sids games. I very much enjoyed the content but found the narrator a little robotic.

a good story

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Writing software is part of my life and is very pedestrian for the most part, so it is nice to hear a story that feels familiar, but with the glamour of early computers and the stardom of the "one man" developer team. Sid Meirer is an excellent designer and the story behind the man is very satisfying. he's a humble, regular guy who happens to be very talented at what he does. fortunately for us he got the opportunities he did and fully ceased them, all in his stride. Great read and extra points if you have interest in the technical side of things

One for the inner engineer

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Extremely interesting for who like me grew up playing Microprose games and has an interest in game development.

Outstanding

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A great journey through Sid Meier's life: a warm-hearted, humble genius and video game pioneer

One of modern gaming's founding fathers

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