Masters of Doom
How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
by David Kushner · first published 2003
69% recommend30% neutral1% critical
Why HN recommends it
Readable account of how Carmack, Romero and id Software built Doom and Quake, with the startup story and personalities. Suits game fans, programmers and anyone wanting a tale of ambitious young founders.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"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 S
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
Doom Guy
John Romero
Recommended by 15 · mentioned by 2615 recommend · 26 mention15 recommend · 2615 recommend
2011–2026The Making of Prince of Persia
Jordan Mechner
Recommended by 31 · mentioned by 4431 recommend · 44 mention31 recommend · 4431 recommend
2015–2023Stay Awhile and Listen : Book II
Amie C. E. Kline, David L. Craddock
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 158 recommend · 15 mention8 recommend · 158 recommend
2017–2026Game Engine Black Book
Fabien Sanglard
Recommended by 45 · mentioned by 5845 recommend · 58 mention45 recommend · 5845 recommend
2007–2026The Soul of a New Machine
Tracy Kidder
Recommended by 260 · mentioned by 376260 recommend · 376 mention260 recommend · 376260 recommend
Blood, sweat, and pixels
Jason Schreier
Recommended by 28 · mentioned by 4228 recommend · 42 mention28 recommend · 4228 recommend
How the Internet happened
Brian McCullough
Recommended by 7 · mentioned by 117 recommend · 11 mention7 recommend · 117 recommend
2010–2025Prince of Persia
Jordan Mechner
Recommended by 8 · mentioned by 168 recommend · 16 mention8 recommend · 168 recommend
For some of the history of that time, I suggest checking out "Masters of Doom : how two guys created an empire and transformed pop culture", by David Kushner. The book is 15 years old (!!!) at this point, but I think it's still a compelling read.
on “Id Software” ↗…sinking feeling set in... I mean, like you, I have been impacted by his story, his games (not just the Wolfenstein/Doom/Quake franchises... I'm talking Commander Keen, boys and girls), his code, reading Masters of Doom, etc. I can see my copy of Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book Special Edition sitting here, which was such a treat to read when it came out, because it has so many great chapters on the…
on “Id Software founder John Carmack resigns” ↗…happened to find it yesterday and found tons of books and authors to add to my Amazon wishlists: https://patrickcollison.com/bookshelf If you're interested in games / startup stories, I have to recommend Masters of Doom, about the early days of id. It's thrilling and exciting to read: https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Cult... - It's also in the news that USA has ordered a pilot for a TV adaptation.…
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗…unfolded. Tenacity, persistence, and consistency can outweigh the disadvantages of following an industry leader with a me-too product. And for anyone else who eats this kind of thing up, David Kushner's Masters of Doom is a great read that I can't recommend highly enough. p.s. I can definitely identify with running across popular commercial game codebases which are composed almost entirely by one source file.
on “Duke Nukem 3D Code Review” ↗They weren't written in 2018, but some I enjoyed: * Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution (Steven Levy) * Masters of DOOM (David Kushner) * The simpsons and their mathematical secrets (Simon Singh) * Countdown to zero day (about stuxnet, by Kim Zetter) * Sapiens: A brief history of human kind (Yuval Noah Harari) * Coders…
on “Ask HN: Favorite nonfiction books of 2018?” ↗For those interested in the development of Doom (And Wolf3D, Keen, ..), or the story of iD software in general, I quite recommend reading "Masters of Doom". https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222146.Masters_of_Doom?f... Coincidentally, I just started re-reading it last week. It's quite a fun book :)
on “John Carmack on the Joe Rogan Experience [video]” ↗People need to read John Carmack and John Romero's epic adventures of Doom: https://www.amazon.com/Masters-of-Doom-David-Kushner-audiobo... Even in the 90's they had to fight hordes and hordes of Californian nutjobs (Diane Feinstein et. al.) that wanted to ban violent video games. These people would be certainly…
on “Stable Diffusion Is the Most Important AI Art Model Ever” ↗I'd add the following: - Makers (Cory Doctorow) -- I recommend this to every entrepreneur and technologist I know, if only because it will inspire you to create something great. - Masters of Doom (David Kushner) -- History of id software - Game Over (David Sheff) -- History of Nintendo; seriously wild
on “Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read” ↗If you have not yet read "Masters of Doom", I strongly advise any aspiring hackerpreneur to read it. It's an enthralling and easy read and details the early day of id, including the releases of their breakout hits "Commander Keen", "Wolfenstein…
on “The Making of Doom: Id's shooter masterpiece” ↗It's always great to get some behind the scenes into how a great piece of software was built. Last night I finished the book about id Software. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222146.Masters_of_Doom Any other great recommendations?
on “The making of Elite” ↗Obligatory mention of "Masters of DOOM", the biography of Johns Carmack and Romero: http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-Cultu... Like reading iWoz... a lot of stories of brilliant engineering at an elite level.
on “Id Software founder John Carmack resigns” ↗Respect. DOOM nostalgia runs deep. And if anyone hasn't read Masters of Doom it is certainly of the most powerful origin stories imaginable ;)
on “SIGIL, a New Doom Campaign by John Romero” ↗…Thing: A Silicon Valley Story", Michael Lewis - "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs", Alan Deutschman - "Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made", Andy Hertzfeld - "Masters of Doom", David Kushner - "Idea Man", Paul Allen - "Where Wizards Stay Up Late", Katie Hafner >> Entertaining stories, but less historical value: - "Ghost in the Wires", Kevin Mitnick - "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene…
on “Ask HN: What are more books like “Masters of Doom” or “Showstoppers”?” ↗…recounting of the founding of Los Alamos. “Hackers” by Steven Levy. The best book on the birth of creatine coding. “The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder. The best tale of hardware design I know. “Masters of Doom” by David Kushner. The best book on the early days of gaming, esp. about Carmack and Romero. Anything by Eric Raymond, esp. “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”.
on “Ask HN: Examples of good technical writing?” ↗Cool; I just finished "Masters of Doom" by David Kushner. It tells the story of ID Software, the groundbreaking games they developed up to the split of the two Johns and then some. A real interesting read for anybody interested in the subject.
on “Doom’s Creator Looks Back on 20 Years of Demonic Mayhem” ↗