What is Reddit's opinion of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

I can't stress this enough, if you want to talk about video game critical theory then you have to start with Tom Bissell. No one is writing anything better about what gaming means right now.

Even if I could, it doesn't sound like they'd listen to me. Do they limit which books? If not, why not ask for Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, or Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World for your gaming interests (I assume you're interested, since you're in r/gaming), for your other interests just look around for books that take a scholarly or approach to them. Who knows maybe your parents will end up reading them and end up broadening their (extremely) narrow worldview?

Not 100% on topic, but I absolutely loved the book Extra Lives. It talks about gamers as well as game devs, and the writing has a very unique and honest style.

I produce a talk show about gaming culture from a retrospective, analytical focus that covers different subcultures, collections, and play history each episode. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpnBpHVI5tHdXvlSVlVqO6ggUWCrU4ICQ). There's a lot of reminiscing about game culture before today's current state and I made it to fill the missing hole you're asking for. I definitely want to see more content that treats gaming culture with a broader respect instead of hyper-topical news stories and marketing that will be completely irrelevant within weeks. All my interviews are meant to be evergreen. If you're interested, check out the Heather or Rocco episode.

Outside my own work, the only great Games Literature I've read is Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307474313?keywords=Extra%20Lives&qid=1449403420&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

https://www.english.ucsb.edu/courses/winter-2015/studies-literary-criticism-and-theory-intro-game-studies
http://depts.washington.edu/critgame/wordpress/
http://gamecenter.nyu.edu/academics/
http://www.arts.utoronto.ca/new-media.htm https://uofa.ualberta.ca/courses/understanding-video-games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_about_video_games#Design_and_theory
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/five-essential-books-on-video-games
http://www.amazon.ca/Extra-Lives-Video-Games-Matter/dp/0307474313
...just for starters.

Extra Lives by Tom Bissell. It isn't as much as a history as a personal gaming journey that touches on games that influenced the industry. It has a Kindle version as well I think.