The Science Factory
London Book Fair 2020
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
THE GAMING MIND A New Psychology of Videogames and the Power of Place ALEXANDER KRISS Gaming is an undeniable growing phenomenon, and THE GAMING MIND puts it under a magnifying glass. Alexander Kriss sheds light on longoverlooked deeper questions: Why do we rage quit? Why did we create videogames in the first place? And what do they trigger in us? There’s a reason videogames have had a visceral impact on our culture in recent decades – and the answer lies within our own minds – Naomi Kyle, actor, producer and host of YouTube’s ‘Last Week in Gaming’ I’m a gamer and have been my whole life from my first Apple 2+ when I was six. Alexander Kriss’s work is not only a nostalgic tour de force, but it also powerfully explains the positive impact of gaming on our minds and psyches – Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado
A therapist reveals the role of video games in the lives of his patients. Are video games bad for us? It’s the question on everyone’s mind, given teenagers’ captive attention to video games and the media’s tendency to scapegoat them. It’s also – if you ask clinical psychologist Alexander Kriss – the wrong question. In his therapy office, Kriss looks at video games as a window into the mind. Is his patient Liz really ‘addicted’ to Candy Crush – or is she evading a deeper problem? Why would aspiring model Patricia craft a hideous avatar named ‘Pat’? And when Jack immerses himself in Mass Effect, is he eroding his social skills – or honing them through relationship-building gameplay? Weaving together Kriss’s personal history, patients’ experiences and professional insight – and without shying away from complex subjects such as addiction, violence and online harassment – THE GAMING MIND disrupts our assumptions about ‘gamers’ and explores how gaming can be good for us. It offers guidance for parents, clinicians and the rest of us, to better understand the gaming mind. Like any mode of play, at their best, video games reveal who we are – and what we want from our lives. ALEXANDER KRISS is a clinical psychologist and writer based in New York. He has a private psychotherapy practice, where he specializes in treating adolescents and adults who feel they are suffering from video-game addiction. He is an adjunct professor of psychology at Fordham University and a clinical supervisor at the New School for Social Research and the City College of New York. He writes regularly on the intersections of mental health, politics and popular culture, and his work has appeared in Psychology Today, Kill Screen, Logic and various academic journals and books. Agent: Tisse Takagi Publisher: Robinson (Little, Brown) (UK)/The Experiment (US)* Publication: 4 July 2019/31 March 2020 Length: 288 pages All rights available excluding UK & Commonwealth (Robinson), US & Canada (The Experiment) *Published in the UK as UNIVERSAL PLAY: How Video Games Tell Us Who We Are and Show Us Who We Could Be
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