Quick book review: Empire of Imagination

[Bo]

I finished Michael Witwer's Gary Gygax biography, 'Empire of Imagination', on the plane today. Overall, I'd recommend picking up the Kindle (or any other e-book version) for a quick, entertaining, and informative (at least for me) read.

The book seems fairly well researched and is a cross between straight up biography and historical fiction. When it's hitting on all cylinders, this approach works well. Sometimes, though, I find myself "just wanting the facts" and not really caring about the author's interpretation of 'how the events may actually have happened.'

Strong Points
1. When the narrative style works, as I mentioned above, it really draws you into the story and is more engaging than your run of the mill biography or work of non fiction. I found this particularly true in the stories of Gygax's life prior to the release of D&D.

2. The annotations and footnotes and references for the book are extensive. the author takes care to note where he uses creative license and also documents his sources where he has them.

3. It is an inspiring and educational tale. Reading about how Gary turns from gamer into millionaire into failed business owner and then into relatively happy family man is instructional. It warns against all the things we need to be warned about and encourages the things we need to be encouraged about.

Weak Points
1. I felt that the story concentrated mostly on Gygax's early life. After D&D was released, the book seemed to cover years in just a few pages

2. Sometimes the narrative style alternated with more traditional biography style and I felt this to be a little confusing.

Hope this helps!
Bo