Doom

Doom PDF Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593297385
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
"All disasters are in some sense man-made." Setting the annus horribilis of 2020 in historical perspective, Niall Ferguson explains why we are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters. Disasters are inherently hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises. and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate the next catastrophe. But when disaster strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted, or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet in 2020 the responses of many developed countries, including the United States, to a new virus from China were badly bungled. Why? Why did only a few Asian countries learn the right lessons from SARS and MERS? While populist leaders certainly performed poorly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work--pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters. In books going back nearly twenty years, including Colossus, The Great Degeneration, and The Square and the Tower, Ferguson has studied the foibles of modern America, from imperial hubris to bureaucratic sclerosis and online fragmentation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics, cliodynamics, and network science, Doom offers not just a history but a general theory of disasters, showing why our ever more bureaucratic and complex systems are getting worse at handling them. Doom is the lesson of history that this country--indeed the West as a whole--urgently needs to learn, if we want to handle the next crisis better, and to avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline.

Doom

Doom PDF Author: Niall Ferguson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593297385
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 497

Get Book Here

Book Description
"All disasters are in some sense man-made." Setting the annus horribilis of 2020 in historical perspective, Niall Ferguson explains why we are getting worse, not better, at handling disasters. Disasters are inherently hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises. and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate the next catastrophe. But when disaster strikes, we ought to be better prepared than the Romans were when Vesuvius erupted, or medieval Italians when the Black Death struck. We have science on our side, after all. Yet in 2020 the responses of many developed countries, including the United States, to a new virus from China were badly bungled. Why? Why did only a few Asian countries learn the right lessons from SARS and MERS? While populist leaders certainly performed poorly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Niall Ferguson argues that more profound pathologies were at work--pathologies already visible in our responses to earlier disasters. In books going back nearly twenty years, including Colossus, The Great Degeneration, and The Square and the Tower, Ferguson has studied the foibles of modern America, from imperial hubris to bureaucratic sclerosis and online fragmentation. Drawing from multiple disciplines, including economics, cliodynamics, and network science, Doom offers not just a history but a general theory of disasters, showing why our ever more bureaucratic and complex systems are getting worse at handling them. Doom is the lesson of history that this country--indeed the West as a whole--urgently needs to learn, if we want to handle the next crisis better, and to avoid the ultimate doom of irreversible decline.

Masters of Doom

Masters of Doom PDF Author: David Kushner
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812972155
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake—until the games they made tore them apart. Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. Masters of Doom is the first book to chronicle this industry’s greatest story, written by one of the medium’s leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative. “To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. Masters of Doom is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses—and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way.”—Mark Leyner, author of I Smell Esther Williams

Game Engine Black Book: DOOM

Game Engine Black Book: DOOM PDF Author: Fabien Sanglard
Publisher: Software Wizards
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
It was early 1993 and id Software was at the top of the PC gaming industry. Wolfenstein 3D had established the First Person Shooter genre and sales of its sequel Spear of Destiny were skyrocketing. The technology and tools id had taken years to develop were no match for their many competitors. It would have been easy for id to coast on their success, but instead they made the audacious decision to throw away everything they had built and start from scratch. Game Engine Black Book: Doom is the story of how they did it. This is a book about history and engineering. Don’t expect much prose (the author’s English has improved since the first book but is still broken). Instead you will find inside extensive descriptions and drawings to better understand all the challenges id Software had to overcome. From the hardware -- the Intel 486 CPU, the Motorola 68040 CPU, and the NeXT workstations -- to the game engine’s revolutionary design, open up to learn how DOOM changed the gaming industry and became a legend among video games.

The Legal Code of Ælfred the Great

The Legal Code of Ælfred the Great PDF Author: Alfred (King of England)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Law, Anglo-Saxon
Languages : la
Pages : 164

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Book Description


Knee-Deep in the Dead

Knee-Deep in the Dead PDF Author: Dafydd ab Hugh
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439117330
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
The Gates were there on Phobos when mankind first arrived. Inert, unyielding, impossibly alien constructs, for twenty years they sat lifeless, mute testaments to their long-vanished creators, their secrets hidden. Then one day, they sprang to life... Meet Corporal Flynn Taggart, United States Marine Corps; serial number 888-23-9912. He's the best warrior the twenty-first century has to offer, which is a damn good thing. Because Flynn Taggart is all that's standing between the hell that just dropped in on Mars and an unsuspectingg planet Earth...

DOOM

DOOM PDF Author: Dan Pinchbeck
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472028936
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
In December 1993, gaming changed forever. id Software's seminal shooter DOOM was released, and it shook the foundations of the medium. Daniel Pinchbeck brings together the complete story of DOOM for the first time. This book takes a look at the early days of first-person gaming and the video game studio system. It discusses the prototypes and the groundbreaking technology that drove the game forward and offers a detailed analysis of gameplay and level design. Pinchbeck also examines DOOM's contributions to wider gaming culture, such as online multiplay and the modding community, and the first-person gaming genre, focusing on DOOM's status as a foundational title and the development of the genre since 1993. Pinchbeck draws extensively from primary data: from the game itself, from the massive fan culture surrounding the title, and from interviews with the developers who made it. This book is not only the definitive work on DOOM but a snapshot of a period of gaming history, a manifesto for a development ethos, and a celebration of game culture at its best.

Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four PDF Author:
Publisher: Marvel
ISBN: 9780785117049
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Presents the adventures of the Fantastic Four's battles with their enemy Von Doom.

Infernal Sky

Infernal Sky PDF Author: Dafydd ab Hugh
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416525173
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Hawaii-- last outpost of civilization on an Earth overrun by demons, traitors. and nightmarish creatures straight out of the pits of hell. Humanity seems doomed to a bloody ending. Then Hawaii receives a message from aliens claiming to be on our side in the battle. Our last chance: make contact. The only man for the job-- Corporal Flynn Taggart, U.S. Marine Corps-- "Fly" to his friends. He led the fight against the demon invaders when they swarmed through the Gates at Phobos Base. Now Fly's got to face the toughest task of his dirty career. Return to Phobos-- and fight his way past those demons to contact mankind's would-be rescuers...

The Art of DOOM: Eternal

The Art of DOOM: Eternal PDF Author: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 150671725X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
A full-color digital art book containing concept art and commentary from the development of DOOM Eternal, the next entry in the iconic first-person shooter series. The newest chapter in the quintessential game franchise from id Software is here. Witness DOOM Eternal! This epic volume explores the art and development of the hotly anticipated sequel to the 2016 Game Award-winner for Best Action Game! Explore the twisted demonic invasion of Earth, the cultist UAC facilities, and plunge into otherworldly and unknown locations new to the DOOM universe. Admire the dangerous glimmering edges of the Slayer's arsenal and armor. Examine the ancient designs and breeds of Hell's soldiers and lords--all in gloriously designed full color images straight from the files of the game's artists themselves! Dark Horse Books and id Software join forces to present The Art of DOOM Eternal, encompassing every detail you've come to love from DOOM!

Endgame

Endgame PDF Author: Dafydd ab Hugh
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501154273
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
They left behind everything that mattered to them-- friends, lovers, country-- to journey to the stars. Now Sergeant Flynn Taggart and Pfc. Arlene Sanders, USMC, have reached their destination... the homeworld of the demon invaders who destroyed Earth. But there, they find a scene of destruction that rivals any they left back on Earth. And suddenly, "Fly" and Arlene find themselves face-to-face with an even deadlier enemy than the demons they came to fight. The war for Earth is over. But the battle for the stars has just begun...