Extra Life: Coming Of Age In Cyberspace [Paperback]

David Bennahum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1999

Today’s digital culture traces its roots to the 1980s, when the first computer generation came of age. These original techno-kids grew up with home-brew programs, secret computer access codes, and arcades where dedicated video gamers fought to extend their play by earning “extra life.” In that era of gleeful discovery, driven by a sense of adventure and a surge of power, kids found a world they could master, one few grownups could understand.In this fast-paced, real-life tale set in the bedrooms, computer rooms, and video arcades of the ’80s, popular media chronicler David S. Bennahum takes readers back to his initiation into this electronic universe, to his discovery of PONG at age five. We follow him from video game addiction—his Bar Mitzvah gift was an Atari 800 with 48K of RAM—to his ascent to master programmer with the coveted title of “Super User” in his high school’s computer room. Bennahum reflects on how computers empowered him and his friends to create a world of their own.We see how their geekiness, grounded in roleplaying, iterative thinking, and systems analysis led to a productive, social existence—the “extra life” they found on the other side of the screen. Hilarious, poignant, and packed with little-known computer lore, Extra Life is a grand digital adventure set against the background of the emerging information age.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bennahum writes a rich account of what it was like to be among the first to grow up with computers as an important part of daily life, where the critical parts of the most coveted toys are electronic rather than mechanical. What lends Extra Life such poignancy is that it ranges far beyond mere push-buttons and keyboards to incorporate the new electronic world into the larger life of a boy growing up in New York. Bennahum delves into his own psyche to show how the computer revolution dovetailed with other revolutions surrounding his coming of age, such as coping with his parents' divorce, emerging from being an outsider, and youthful (sometimes illegal) strivings for adulthood.

However enthusiastic he gets about his electronic extra life, he doesn't overlook the dark side of experience. When he violates a system-access rule, for example, he discovers a serious system flaw and must now wrestle with the ethical issue of whether to report it and protect the system when doing so would reveal his violation. If Bennahum sometimes seems overly self-congratulatory for being part of his generation, that's easily forgiven as he shares his childlike wonder in the electronic new world that grew up alongside him. --Elizabeth Lewis --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In this peculiar memoir of growing up at the same time as the computer, Bennahum, a contributing editor to Wired and other magazines, charts his lifelong obsession with the machine, from before he could type a four-line BASIC program to his days of amateur hacking to the time he took a trip to Microsoft's Seattle offices for a job interview. Implicitly challenging the distinction between geekiness and coolness, Bennahum tells of his early fascination with drugs, the solace he found in computers and the seductiveness of invading others' cyberprivacy. He writes as compellingly about the glee of his first hacking job as other memoirists have written about their first acid trip or incestuous relationship. Bennahum captures with poignancy the yearning he had to be a "Super User," the computer lab's star du jour, as well as the thrill of discovery when working with computers. But his memoir is marred by too many unexplained digressions, such as the all-too-casual suggestion that his sister became a "bad girl" because she didn't look for computers to rescue her. The book's largest bug lies in the fact that Bennahum spends too much time documenting when he should be enlightening. Must we really know that "Paul Haahr taught me how to play Ping-Pong with the switches," when we'd rather read his insights into such a moment? Those who grew up during the same pivotal cyber-time as the author will recognize at least some of his sentiments but find little new in them; those who didn't might assume that they didn't miss much. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (October 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465012361
• ISBN-13: 978-0465012367
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,739,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A touching story about growing up in the Computer Age, November 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Extra Life: Coming Of Age In Cyberspace (Hardcover)

David Bennahum's "Extra Life" is one of the most touching, gripping, and interesting books I've read in a long time. The book is a personal account of the authors youth, his early descent into the world of drugs and alcohol, and how discovering the fascinating world of computers brought him out and changed his life forever. It was a powerful moment when the meaning of the book's title hit me.. like in video games, David was granted an "Extra Life", a chance to pull himself up by the bootstraps. Computers were the answer.

Perhaps I enjoyed this book so much because many of David's experiences hit very close to home -- while I was never did drugs or drank alcohol, and I am a bit younger than him (Pac Man instead of Pong), I found myself relating closely to Bennahum's memoirs. The similarities between us are scary, from our first computers (Atari 800), to our interviews with Microsoft later in life. "Extra Life" is the first book I've read that has hit the spirit of the computer programmer straight on the head. Finally, someone who shared the same passion for programming that I have! Bennahum expresses this passion eloquently.

"Extra Life" is a fascinating story, most likely the first of many personal experiences about growing up in the computer age we'll see in the future. After reading David's story, I had the strange urge to share my similar experiences. Personally, I can't wait to give this book to my parents to read, and I urge those parents who are curious -- and maybe a bit concerned -- about the hypnotic attachment their kids have with the computer to pick up a copy of "Extra Life" and read what that attachment is all about.

Cheers to David S. Bennahum on his first book. I can't wait for his next.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing - I couldn't relate to his story, July 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Extra Life: Coming Of Age In Cyberspace (Hardcover)

Although I did see a few parallels to my own youth in the book (I'm the same age, and also owned a Merlin and an Atari computer), I just couldn't relate to Bennahum's story.

Perhaps this is because I grew up middle class in a small midwestern city, while Bennahum grew up wealthy in NYC. I had to earn the money for my Atari 400 on my own, while Bennahum had his 800 and dual disk drive handed to him. My public high school taught BASIC programming on lowly TI99/4As, Bennahum's exclusive private high school had an extensive computer science curriculum and a PDP-11.

After this exceptional computer education in high school, he is admitted to Harvard and chooses to study history. (My guess is that computer science would have been too much unpleasant work for him.) I graduated from a small midwestern college with a degree in computer science.

At a Harvard job fair, he's fortunate enough to be selected by Microsoft for an interview. He's flown to Seattle and has interviews in several departments. He rejects them all as dull and accuses Microsoft of "fossilizing" software. My first programming job was modifying Turbo Pascal programs for a small software company. Hardly exciting, however I was thrilled to be earning good money for something I enjoyed doing.

In the end, Bennahum's book strikes me as the whining of a lazy rich kid who had every advantage in life but never wanted to do any real work. I was disappointed with this book and cannot recommend it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!, April 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Extra Life: Coming Of Age In Cyberspace (Hardcover)

I found this book 100% pure excellence. The way it weaved high technology with the realities of the times and growing up in the 70's and 80's. I have often thought that writing such a book would be terrific fun, but who would read it? I doubt I could ever write such an engrossing and entertaining book about myself the way David did with Extra Life. He succeeded in making an autobiography read more like a combination of a novel and reference manual.

Thanks for such a great book!