Customer Reviews

Lucky That Way

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"Lucky That Way" is a great story about learning how to take advantage of opportunities you normally might miss in life. Brad uses stories to share his philosphy of life with the reader- serendipity and syncronicity. He also shares with the reader that it is important that you actively seek out these opportunities or they will pass you by. In addition, you learn a little about how some of the most popular computer games of all time were created.

The book is compelling, informative and keeps you giggling every so often. Easy to read and easy to recommend.

On the face of it, it would appear Brad Fregger has good qualifications to write a book of this type. Starting with Atari in the early 1980s, he was involved with the games industry for almost two decades.

However, I had several problems with "Lucky That Way". The first, and most basic, is that I didn't find the book that interesting. The products that the author worked with were not exactly those which built an industry, Shanghai and Solitaire aside. As an expose and history of the video game industry, you'd be much better off reading David Scheff's "Game Over".

Secondly, the writing style grated. The phrase "Seize the moment" is repeated, in italics, at least once a page and frequently once per paragraph. I noticed in the author's bio that he's a professional speaker; this comes across in the prose, in the gimmicky and catchphrase-led style. What works as a speech does not necessarily work as a piece of writing.

Finally, many of the anecdotes are brief and lack detail, and can be extremely generic. One chapter regarding Microsoft quotes "Barbarians Led By Bill Gates" extensively, with very little extra information.

The book wasn't a total loss - the author has considerable experience, in life as much as the games industry, and some of his business acumen comes across well.

My personal opinions only. Your mileage may vary.

Brad Fregger is a great storyteller - like the bards of old. I enjoyed reading his tales, both the uplifting and the troubled ones. What makes this book even better is that the stories are true! Thank you for bringing us these tales, Mr. Fregger.