I regularly read nonfiction. (A lot of research material, but I don’t blog about that.) This past week I read two nonfiction books just from interest.

When I started this book, I thought it would be about Woodrow Wilson but it turned out to be primarily about William Bullitt. An energetic politician, Bullitt was active right about to the Nixon years. Bullitt was active during World War II, was given a medal by DeGaulle, and also served as an ambassador to the Soviet Union.

The book was only slightly about Wilson. It began with a few chapters, focusing especially on a psychological workup of Wilson by Freud and ended with the release of that workup. So a break of almost forty years. Bullitt waited until Wilson and his wife were dead.

Bullitt was an interesting character. Super smart. His assessments of the Nazis and the Soviets was spot on. I was disappointed there was not more about Wilson, however. And I feel the psychological assessment reached in some cases. So, an interesting book, but not a total success.

Now for a complete change of pace. This book is a history of the video game industry from the early 2000s. I love video games and have played many, many, right up to the Burning Shores ( from the Horizon Forbidden West franchise), Mario smash brothers, Hollow Knight and Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom. (Not a fan. The game felt clunky and old-fashioned to me.) I have not played all the games discussed. Shovel Knight, for example. I have played Assassin’s Creed, although not Unity. (I’m glad since apparently the game kept glitching and one of the NPC’s face would explode. Disturbing to say the least.) Huge fan of Dragon’s Age and Witcher 3. Even bigger fan of The Last of Us, one and two, but this game was not included in the book.

I may go back and look up some of the games I missed. Yes, I still have my PS4 as well as my PS5.

I am even more amazed, after reading about all the trouble these teams went through, that my friend Thomas Happ developed Axiom Verge BY HIMSELF. The first was released in 2015, after five years of development. The second installment came out in 2021. Both were considered among the best games of those years.

Recommended for anyone interested in video games.