I decided at the beginning of the year to keep track of all the books I read in 2006. The results can be found here: http://nforget.com/blog/books/

According to my record keeping I read thirty-four books, but that’s not entirely correct. There are a couple books on the list which could be accurately described as reference materials and which I did not read cover-to-cover:

• The C++ Programming Language (Special 3rd Edition)
• The C Programming Language (2nd Edition) (Actually, I did read this one cover-to-cover. It’s that good.)
• Macromedia Flash MX Game Design Demystified

Additionally, there are several books on the list which I have not yet finished:

• A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• A Clockwork Orange

There are a couple of recurring authors. I read three Tom Robbins books:

• Villa Incognito
• Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
• Jitterbug Perfume

And three Joel Spolsky books:

• Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers…
• User Interface Design for Programmers
• The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky

Most thought-provoking: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Most entertaining: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell : A Novel

Most surprisingly good: Villa Incognito

Most disappointing: To Kill a Mockingbird

Recommended, but not mentioned elsewhere in this post:
If you like history and soccer: How Soccer Explains the World : An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
If you like games: Theory of Fun for Game Design
If you like stories or movies: The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

Looking back in ten or twenty years Will Wright is going to be remembered as the most important figure in the nascent field of interactive entertainment. The Orson Welles of games. He recently gave a talk at Georgia Tech about… well… everything. The state of the industry, where it’s headed, relationships with other fields, Japanese Zen Gardens, etc. You can read Raph Koster’s notes on the talk at his blog.

A couple of quotes:

“When picturing game devleoper job roles, we think of artists, programmers, designers, producers. But he’s seeing more value in programmers with design skills, artists with programming skills (particularly for procedural art), and designers doing more programming, which a lot to do with prototyping. Designers need to be fluent in process. That’s our medium. Also producers more fluent in design, understanding iteration and process, which helps them manage better. Basically, looking at more interdisciplinary teams.”

“Simplicity: the [Zen] garden is not complete unless there is nothing else you can remove. In games we often do the kitchen sink.”