Synopsis
A fascinating, fast-paced coming-of-age story set in the bedrooms, computer rooms, and arcades of the 80s, when the first computer kids were pioneering the frontier of digitalculture.. In this fast-paced real-life tale set in the bedrooms, computer rooms, and video arcades of the 80s, popular media chronicler David S. Bennahum takes readers back to his initiation into this electronic universe, to his discovery of PONG at age five. We follow him from video game addictionhis Bar Mitzvah gift was an Atari 800 with 48K of RAMto his ascent to master programmer with the coveted title of Super User in his high schools computer room. Bennahum reflects on how computers empowered him and his friends to create a world of their own. . }Todays digital culture traces its roots to the 1980s, when the first computer generation came of age. These original techno-kids grew up with home-brew programs, secret computer access codes, and arcades where dedicated video gamers fought to extend their play by earning extra life. In that era of gleeful discovery, driven by a sense of adventure and a surge of power, kids found a world they could master, one few grownups could understand.In this fast-paced, real-life tale set in the bedrooms, computer rooms, and video arcades of the 80s, popular media chronicler David S.
Bennahum takes readers back to his initiation into this electronic universe, to his discovery of PONG at age five. We follow him from video game addictionhis Bar Mitzvah gift was an Atari 800 with 48K of RAMto his ascent to master programmer with the coveted title of Super User in his high schools computer room. Bennahum reflects on how computers empowered him and his friends to create a world of their own.We see how their geekiness, grounded in roleplaying, iterative thinking, and systems analysis led to a productive, social existencethe extra life they found on the other side of the screen. Hilarious, poignant, and packed with little-known computer lore, Extra Life is a grand digital adventure set against the background of the emerging information age. }
From the Author
Extra Life is the Chicago Tribune's "editor's choice":November 22, 1998; Sunday
SECTION: BOOKS; Pg. 5; ZONE: C; READER'S GUIDE. EDITOR'S CHOICE.
by Carolyn Alessio, deputy editor.
In 1973, 5-year-old David Bennahum first spotted the game of Pong at a French hotel. His infatuation with the glowing ball and electronic paddles triggered a lifetime of interest in games, computers and all things technological. Although Bennahum, a contributing editor for Wired and Spin magazines, might seem young to be penning (or processing) his memoir, he seems to be just the right age to comment on digital culture and the computer revolution. The title is drawn from an unlikely source: the instructions for Atari Missile Command, 1980.
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