a fitting ending to Sierra

Many people these days had their childhood revolve around Harry Potter, My childhood revolved around Sierra games. They taught me to type, read, spell.. they taught me it was okay to fail.. and to pick myself back up.. think through the problem and try again.. they taught me to explore and learn.. be curious.. all of these things made me who i am today.

This book goes into a lot of detail of Sierra as a company and Ken Williams. It answers a lot of questions and gives glimses into the 15-20 yr history of the company not the games themselves. Many of the reviews have mentioned that the interlude chapters are distracting.. i feel they were amazing. Expecially the one on Ken WIlliams opinions and approach to programming. He and his company were WAY WAY before their time in terms of story telling, technology, and vision.

Its a great read/listen

4 people found this helpful

Sierra's rise and fall

First off, I want to call out the narration, its excellent throughout.

The book covers the early years of Ken and Roberta Williams (mostly Ken), and their journey through the dawn of video games, to being merged into a global conglomerate.

My childhood was filled with the early Sierra games on my IBM compatible computer in the early 80s. Its great to hear how that all came about, and what things had to be done to rise to be the stars that they were.

Criticism - The book has its faults though, the pacing is a little off, and the interludes are distracting. This is one part story of the rise and fall of Sierra, and one part Self Help book. The Self Help parts.. im not a big fan of. Ken has a lot of traits that worked for him, but i think a lot of it was being in the right place at the right time and taking some initiative. A lot of his management advice is actually.. pretty terrible. I'd never work for him.

Still overall, a great book that I would recommend to anyone who was playing Sierra games since the 80s.

4 people found this helpful

A Good Trip Down Memory Lane

While it was nice to hear the history of the company that made so many of the games I loved as a child, I would’ve loved to have heard more about those games, and less about the business or conflicts in building the Sierra empire.

But, if you are into the business side of a gaming company, or want to hear thoughts from one of video games’ greatest founders, it’s a good book.

The narration, however, is that bland, uninspired style that we have come to expect in too many works of non-fiction. I know they all can’t be Wil Wheaton, but I am tired of the same old anemic sound.

1 person found this helpful

A Fascinating Memoir

I received a free copy of the audiobook to review. I will try to be as unbiased as possible, but full disclosure I grew up with Sierra. I played SQ, KQ, EQ, The Realm, QfG, Dr. Brain, TIM, PQ, BaK, BiA, PAiT, LSL, Hoyle, CoL, RB, TP, and a few others.

That should put me in square in the middle of a relatively small target audience. However, I feel that the real target audience is even closer to home. It feels like a book written for Ken Williams’ family, friends, and former employees. Those that experienced Sierra firsthand and may have lingering questions as to what exactly happened and what Ken Williams was thinking with his decisions.

The book feels almost like a conversation with him. Or more accurately, listening to him tell the story of his life. He reached out to friends for details or googled information more often than exhaustively researching facts. If there was something he couldn’t remember, he said so. He talked about several choices throughout his life that he would probably make differently now, but he stood by his choices. He acknowledges that he wasn’t always right, that he was cocky, that he wasn’t easy to work for, and this book is his side of the story.

It makes for a fascinating memoir. I mean, he was almost a household name. Sierra had so many firsts... graphical game, online game network, IBM compatible game, game on CD, game using a music card, online casino, personal finance software, BASIC compiler, etc. If he had made one or two choices differently, he would be a Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Jeff Bezos. Several books have been written about those that made it all the way to the top, but how many memoirs have been written by those that were this close?

Probably a lot, actually. But there are a lot of biographies on my TBR list, and they’ve been there a while. I read this as soon as I found out it existed, and I enjoyed it.

1 person found this helpful

Interesting anecdotes but overall uninspiring

I grew up with sierra’s games, not sure what I expected from this book other than to be reminded of the games for nostalgia and to learn of what happened to sierra. Unfortunately the book is way too long for what it is. Ken’s stories often sounded defensive and self praising, simple business lessons get too much airtime and seem overly explained. If you are not a business person you might find it interesting to hear of management stories and Wall Street transactions. If you have any management or entrepreneurial experience you might find the stories too basic and don’t drive to a deeper level.

I loved this book

This is a great book, not only for lovers of the history of early computer games, but also to understand what happened to the Sierra Online company. I especially loved the "Interludes" that I found both interesting and educational. Ken is brutally honest, and it was a pleasure to listen to this audio book. Thank you, Ken!

Poorly written and poorly read

I really wanted to like this book but was quickly surprised by how poorly written it was, and the reading is very strange. It's almost like one of those computer narrators where it emphasises all the wrong words and the inflation goes up when it should go down etc.
it's a real shame because the story is pretty interesting.

Very enjoyable

I found this backstory delightful. I worked in the software industry and it was so much fun going back to those days again. Floppy disks and Invisclues :P

A Must Read

This book will bring you back into your childhood and the birth of the computer adventure game. So many great memories come back to me as I flip through the pages.

An intriguing history of the business

Disclaimer: Was provided a free code by the narrator to listen to and review this audiobook

I grew up in the 80s and Sierra adventure games are some of my first memories of pc gaming. In fact the first game I played through the night to sunrise was Kings Quest. I played just about every series Sierra came out with and loved to read about behind the scenes of how the games were made.

Didn't know what to expect from this book, but was not disappointed in what Ken Williams shared regarding the story of the company. I lost track of them in the mid 90s and didn't actually know the company had folded, but the story was an interesting one and brought to light considerations around the ipo process and takeover that I never imagined existed. The stories about the other tech visionary giants of the time were also neat to hear. Sierra definitely grew up and blossomed during the dawn of personal computing. and their story is one intertwined with the rest of the industry.

Didn't necessarily enjoy or agree with some of the personal beliefs of the author, but appreciated the honesty and insight into what made the business tick. The narration was excellent and kept me engaged during sections of the story where my attention was apt to wander.

I would have loved to hear more about the design process and technical challenges, but some of that is there and the rest of the story is one that I'm glad I heard. If you played or have an interest in Sierra adventure games and have any curiosity about the early story of the founders and how the business was run then definitely give this one a shot!