Masters of Doom
Masters of Doom by David Kushnerby David Kushner
Hacker ApprovedRanked 8 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
Readers recommend it as an engaging history of id Software and the rise of Carmack and Romero, with a behind-the-scenes look at 90s game development. Some stories should be taken with a grain of salt.
Readers recommend it as an engaging history of id Software and the rise of Carmack and Romero, with a behind-the-scenes look at 90s game development. Some stories should be taken with a grain of salt.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Engaging behind-the-scenes history of id Software
“It's an interesting book though; great glimpse into trenches of 90s game development.”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “John Carmack about open source and anti-AI activists” “peek behind the scenes of how Carmack, Romero, and iD software built Doom”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Doom has been ported to an earbud” “Masters of Doom is a great book on the history of id software”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Game Engine White Papers Commander Keen” - Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: What book are you reading?”
Good picture of 90s game development
“Both Carmack and Romero have praised Masters of Doom as a good picture of what things were like”
Comment from 24 Jun 2026 in “John Carmack on the mistakes around Quake that ruined id software” “It's an interesting book though; great glimpse into trenches of 90s game development.”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “John Carmack about open source and anti-AI activists” “peek behind the scenes of how Carmack, Romero, and iD software built Doom”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Doom has been ported to an earbud” Dramatic, entertaining read
“You should go read Masters of Doom where their boss wanted to rent them a house with dirt floors”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “ICE Using Palantir Tool That Feeds on Medicaid Data” “The Masters of Doom book was pretty good if you want a bit of drama.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “The Making Of Super Mario 64 – full Giles Goddard interview (2001)” “It's such an engaging read about the rise of id Software.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: What book are you reading?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Some stories need grain of salt
“some of the stories need to be taken with a grain of salt”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Game Engine White Papers Commander Keen”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Masters of Doomby David KushnerThis page | 17 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The Masters of Doom book was pretty good if you want a bit of drama.”
“contains a lot of neat history as well, though less technical”
“Both Carmack and Romero have praised Masters of Doom as a good picture of what things were like”
“Loved this book as well. Convinced me more than anything to stay out of game dev.”
“One of my favorite non-fiction books is Masters of Doom.”
“it is a great book too. The audio version is really good.”
“some of the stories need to be taken with a grain of salt”
“Masters of Doom is a great book on the history of id software”
“Both very enjoyable, and great contrast between the two.”
“It's an interesting book though; great glimpse into trenches of 90s game development.”
“It's such an engaging read about the rise of id Software.”
“Yes such a fantastic book. I thought about it recently while reading this article”
“You should go read Masters of Doom where their boss wanted to rent them a house with dirt floors”
“peek behind the scenes of how Carmack, Romero, and iD software built Doom”
“There's a lot of great reads out there.”
“Masters of Doom really lit a fire inside of me as a young programmer”
“Here’s a human recommendation if you like that you may like these that I’ve read”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.