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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 week, it’s Looking Glass Studios’ legend,Deus Exdirector, andOtherside’s Warren Spector - who I suspect might have realised the very secret goal of this column. Cheers Warren! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

What are you currently reading?

Let me start by saying I have 17,000 “dead tree” books and 7,000 e-books, so I have a lot to choose from! That may be why I read several books at once - a lightweight read, a heavy read, a medium read, some fiction and some poetry. Or maybe it’s just that I’d go crazy if all I read was pap or pretentious heavyweight stuff. That out of the way… right now, I’m reading these:

Gamer Girls by Mary Kenney

Introducing Walter Benjamin by Howard Caygill, Alex Coles and Andrzej Klimowski

Chilly Scenes Of Winter by Ann Beattie

Poetry 180 edited by Billy Collins

I’ve kept a list of every book I’ve read since 1989, so this is an easy one to answer. Given that I read more than one book at a time, I have several books in my finished list:

New York In The ‘50’s by Dan Wakefield.

Signs And Meaning In The Cinema by Peter Wollen

The Beauty Of Games by Frank Lantz

Play Nice by Jason Schrier

I’ve got a ways to go in the books I’m currently reading so it’ll be a while before “next” rolls around, but I do have my eye on some books. I won’t read all of these of course, but these are the ones from which I’m going to choose. I reserve the right to change my mind on any or all of these before or after I give them a try. Oh, and before you read this list, know that I’m unashamedly pretentious. That said, these are legitimately the books by my bed. No fooling. So sue me. Or join me. And let’s talk about stuff.

Basic Writings Of Existentialism edited by Gordon Marino

Semiotics: An Introductory Anthology edited by Robert E. Innis

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

The Virtual Life Of Film by David Rodowick

The Work Of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing by Adam Moss

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Fight Me by Austin Grossman

The City And Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

Playing With Reality: How Games Have Shaped Our World by Kelly Clancy

I’ve been collecting quotes for decades so this is going to be both easy and hard. Easy because I have a lot to choose from. Hard because I have a lot to choose from. I’m tempted to pass on this for now - someday I’m going to start up a Quote a Day website where I provide a quote, talk about why it’s interesting in general and why it’s important to me, personally.

Okay, here’s one (out of, literally, thousands) in my collection. It sang to me. (Anyone I might work for should stop reading here!)

“I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that the client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me. It’s the way I want to live my life. I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares.” - Saul Bass

(As a note, Saul Bass created some of the most memorable film title sequences of all time. A second-to-none visual designer. Look him up. There’s lots of his work on YouTube…)

Ack. Another one where I have to list several! I’ll list just six (and regret the ones I’ve forgotten immediately after I finish this!)

Time And Again by Jack Finney

Organizing Genius by Warren Bennis

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

The Timeless Way Of Building by Christopher Alexander

Designing Disney by John Hench

This may be the toughest question of all. I’m not sure there are ANY books I want to see adapted to a game. I mean, books are wonderful as books, and games are wonderful as games. The two media don’t need each other. That said, let me see… okay, here’s one almost entirely selfish one:

Wildcards edited by George R.R. Martin

Ok, Warren wins. Or, is at leasttied with Dan. Book for now!