Masters of Doom
How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
by David Kushner
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“@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fanboy eyes during those halcyon days! | I strongly recommend all of these books, actually | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can?t we' | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we' | Masters of doom This book tells the story of Id Software, one of the most influential gaming studios of all time. They made Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake my childhood favorites and really defined the shooter genre | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →“@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fanboy eyes during those halcyon days! | I strongly recommend all of these books, actually | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can?t we' | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we' | Masters of doom This book tells the story of Id Software, one of the most influential gaming studios of all time. They made Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake my childhood favorites and really defined the shooter genre | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →“@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fanboy eyes during those halcyon days! | I strongly recommend all of these books, actually | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can?t we' | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we' | Masters of doom This book tells the story of Id Software, one of the most influential gaming studios of all time. They made Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake my childhood favorites and really defined the shooter genre | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →“@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fanboy eyes during those halcyon days! | I strongly recommend all of these books, actually | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can?t we' | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we' | Masters of doom This book tells the story of Id Software, one of the most influential gaming studios of all time. They made Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake my childhood favorites and really defined the shooter genre | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →“@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fanboy eyes during those halcyon days! | I strongly recommend all of these books, actually | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can?t we' | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we' | Masters of doom This book tells the story of Id Software, one of the most influential gaming studios of all time. They made Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake my childhood favorites and really defined the shooter genre | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
Source →Recommended by 7 notable people, including Patrick Collison and Elon Musk
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Should I read this?
Recommended by 13 sources and appears in Video Game, Books Recommended by Elon Musk, and Books Recommended by CEOs.
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 produce ...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 13 sources and appears in Video Game, Books Recommended by Elon Musk, and Books Recommended by CEOs.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
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Elon Musk
Co-founder of PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink
“@dannyodwyer I cant wait to see this. The book is fascinating, and I remember watching with bulging fanboy eyes during those halcyon days! | I strongly recommend all of these books, actually | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can?t we' | Made my cofounder and me think, 'Well, if these guys could do it, why can’t we' | Masters of doom This book tells the story of Id Software, one of the most influential gaming studios of all time. They made Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake my childhood favorites and really defined the shooter genre | Some of my favorite books are on unique times in history when a group of incredibly talented people came together to build: American Prometheus (Manhattan Project) Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC) The Idea Factory (Bell Labs) Masters of Doom (id Software) Skunk Works”
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Not sure if this is the right fit?
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“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
Masters of Doom
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