Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! This column is likely slightly late today, but that’s simply because I know there’s at least one of you rapidly thumbing through the last few pages of your current book so you can share your thoughts. Laziness is, in it’s own way, the greatest form of charity. When I do it. Everyone else needs to pull their socks up. God.
This week, it’s Magic: The Gathering, Vanguard Exiles, and many, many more’s Richard Garfield! Cheers Richard! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?
What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading Growth: A Reckoning. I am fascinated by economics, and this topic in particular is one that I have thought a lot about and, it turns out, knew less about than I thought I did.
What did you last read?
I last read Ian Bank’s Surface Detail. I think it was the only Culture novel I hadn’t read and my interest was piqued by the concept of digital hells. I am going to cheat and add a second book here, which is Unruly by David Mitchell. I do enjoy history – and if it can make me laugh out loud all the better.
What are you eyeing up next?
Neal Stephenson’s Polostan, I love reading Neal’s work, it is always rewarding.
What book do you find yourself bothering friends to read?
Messy by Tim Harford. I love his podcast Cautionary Tales, and wanted some more, so I picked up this book and was delighted.
What book would you like to see someone adapt to a game?
The book I would like to see someone turn into a game is Radical Markets by Glen Weyl and Eric Posner. The economic ideas in this were hard enough for me to get an intuitive understanding for that I spent years designing games meant to explore them. The game is with GMT now, and might get published in time, but there are still some things to iron out. Whether or not it does – I would very much enjoy any game designers designs around this books concepts – there is a lot of room there for interesting games.
Richard neglected to answer “what quote or scene from a book sticks with you the most?” If I was feeling incredibly generous, I could take this lack of answer as a clever nod toward the futility of fulfilling this column’s very secret goal of naming every book ever written. Unfortunately, it’s Sunday, and I simply do not have the energy for such mental gymnastics. Thus, the column must continue. Book for now!
