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Peter Leigh

The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles & Games (Tech Classics) Hardcover – 1 Nov. 2018

by Peter Leigh (Author)

802 ratings

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Enhance your purchase

The perfect Father's Day gift.

Remember what a wild frontier the early days of home gaming were? Manufacturers releasing new consoles at a breakneck pace; developers creating games that kept us up all night, then going bankrupt the next day; and what self-respecting kid didn't beg their parents for an Atari or a Nintendo? This explosion of computers, consoles, and games was genuinely unlike anything the tech world has seen before or since.

This thoroughly researched and geeky trip down memory lane pulls together the most entertaining stories from this dynamic era, and brings you the classic tech that should never be forgotten.

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ilex Press
Publication date

1 Nov. 2018
Dimensions

15.88 x 2.86 x 21.91 cm
ISBN-10

1781575703
ISBN-13

978-1781575703
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From the Publisher

THE NOSTALGIA NERD'S RETRO TECH COMPUTER

Remember what a wild frontier the early days of home gaming were?

Manufacturers releasing new consoles at a breakneck pace; developers creating games that kept us up all night, then going bankrupt the next day; and what self-respecting kid didn't beg their parents for an Atari or a Nintendo? This explosion of computers, consoles, and games was genuinely unlike anything the tech world has seen before or since.

Take a trip down memory lane with the Nostalgia Nerd

This thoroughly researched and geeky trip down memory lane pulls together the most entertaining stories from this dynamic era, and brings you the classic tech that should never be forgotten.

Product description

Book Description

This book celebrates the most exciting period in the history of technology - the arrival of the home computer and home gaming console. YouTube's most successful purveyor of computer nostalgia brings those stories to print.

From the Back Cover

Remember what a wild frontier the early days of home gaming were? Manufacturers releasing new consoles at a breakneck pace; developers creating games that kept us up all night, then going bankrupt the next day; and what self-respecting kid didn't beg their parents for an Atari or a Nintendo? This explosion of computers, consoles, and games was genuinely unlike anything the tech world has seen before or since.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ilex Press; 1st edition (1 Nov. 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1781575703
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1781575703
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.88 x 2.86 x 21.91 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 50,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 18 in Antique & Collectable Toys, Games & Models
- 31 in Computer Architecture & Microprocessors
- 32 in Video Game Art

Customer reviews:
802 ratings

About the author

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Peter Leigh

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With millions of views on YouTube, Leigh is well known to his loyal fans for his in-depth videos about the software, hardware, games, toys, programs and magazines of the 70s, 80s and 90s, through his channel, Nostalgia Nerd. He has no shame admitting his addiction to retro tech (indeed it would be hard to hide).

You can follow Nostalgia Nerd on YouTube at https://youtube.com/nostalgianerd

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

802 global ratings

5 star		76%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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R. S. Boyce

The Nostalgia Nerd's Retro Tech: Computer, Consoles & Games (Tech Classics)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 22 December 2022

Verified Purchase

Nice to remember all the machines that we used in the past

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 25 December 2022

Verified Purchase

I came across this after watching numerous videos on the man's channel. Highly recommended. You've got to love classic tech and history.

Helpful

Ben

Great to keep on the coffee table in your geek pad.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 8 November 2018

Verified Purchase

This book lists most of the retro systems that I either grew up with or stared at admiringly in magazines. It’s a well written book with short pieces about each machine written in a style similar to the Nostalgia Nerds YouTube channel. It’s hard to shake Peters voice out of your head when reading the passages if you follow his YouTube videos.
Each machine doesn’t take up a lot of the book covering only a couple of pages, with a short description over full page photos. I feel these short descriptions are actually to the books credit as there are videos and other texts to delve into about each machine if you are looking for more detailed information. This is, in all its openness, a coffee table book. As well as a description about each machine, Peter has listed three titles to play. One being a must see, one a must play and one to avoid, which is a nice way of solidifying any experience you had with the machine or providing decent recommendations if you wanted to pick one up.

Although the book is thick enough with plenty of pages, the physical height and width of the book is much smaller than I expected. I don’t feel ripped off by this as that's down to my own expectations from some similar books I have bought. I also suspect this is a cost cutting exercise by the publishes as it’s a fairly niche book even within the world of retro gaming. Also, the book is missing anything about the Magnavox Odyssey 2 (or the Phillips Odyssey as it was known in the UK), my first ever gaming machine. So for these reasons I dock it one star out of personal opinion and lack of coverage of every machine.

In short, a great book, easy to pick up and nice to keep out on the coffee table. For such a low price why wouldn’t you pick up a copy if you love retro computing... even if there is at lest one missing.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

N. Walton

Amazing reference book, I learned so much!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 30 April 2019

Verified Purchase

I'm a retro nut, and I thought I knew a lot. This book taught me otherwise. The book is by no means exhaustive. It doesn't cover some successors to consoles, or regional variants. It also doesn't cover some of the more obscure or lesser-known ones either. It does, however, cover almost every one of the 'major' consoles and computers from 1976ish through to 2005ish.

Each console/computer is covered by a specification overview, and some text about how it came to be, the major players in its design, the goal for which it was made, what the other competitors were doing at the time, and any snags in their production. It covers major SNAFUs and delays, and helps to set the scene for why some very-capable consoles missed out on becoming legendary, and instead became the realm of retro geeks like me.

As well as the description of the console, a selection of games (usually two or three) which exemplify the best (or hilariously worst) of the offerings for that platform. The descriptions of the games are brilliantly funny, cuttingly, brutally honest, and help to put the console into historical context.

All of the consoles are covered by wonderful photographs that must have taken an age to do. They show the consoles from a variety of angles, including common peripherals and media.

There's very little to say bad about this book, except perhaps there are a few typos and one paragraph that got pasted in twice by accident. Also, the text for the games is very small, you'll need your strong reading glasses on to be able to make them out!

Absolutely brilliant book, and I hope the Nostalgia Nerd follows this up with an examination of the PC and its clones.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

DPW

Really good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 21 September 2022

Verified Purchase

I was immediately taken back too many years reading this book. I've used / played with many of the machines covered here.

Helpful

Toastlord

Well written and a perfect gift for retro gaming fans

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 November 2018

Verified Purchase

I've been a fan of Nostalgia Nerd's YouTube channel for some time now so was delighted to hear that he was writing a book. This is a small but weighty tome that covers pretty much every system you can think of from the early days of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972 right thought to systems from the turn of the century like the Xbox. Each system is afforded 4 pages, starting with some history and photos of the system and peripherals and then a brief snippet on 3 games for each - one you need to see because it shows the system's strengths, one you have to play and one to avoid.

It's a cracking read and one I ploughed through and finished in a couple of days as once you start reading it's hard to stop. My only criticism is that as well researched as it is there's a couple of silly mistakes in there, including one on the entry for the ZX Spectrum where one paragraph is repeated in error and thus misses some other information out. You would have though that for a UK book that's the one page that would be double checked! It's not enough to spoil the book and lose a star from my rating as it still remains one of the best books I've read for a while.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in retro computers and consoles then this is a great purchase that will bring back many memories of systems you owned and/or wanted. It's reasonably priced too so a nice little Christmas gift for someone.

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