Gamer's Almanac

In the age-old tradition of the almanac, which is to keep its readers company with tidbits of entertaining knowledge throughout the year, Sean Carton's elegantly produced volume packs in a compact wealth of details across a commendable range of topics all fitting within a page a day (with a small daily infobit at the top giving some flashback news). Because of the intrinsically bitty nature of the chosen format, navigation is made easier thanks to colour- and icon-coding per day of the week and per rubric (for e.g. Thursday is for Classic Gaming, Friday for PC Gaming, other platforms get a day each, while the more leisurely Sunday is the "grab bag day") - a simple, yet efficient approach which works a treat, and indeed encourages the reader to use the book much like a traditional almanach if they so wish. Whether for brushing up in no time on the essentials of old favourites or venturing into new territory, quick learning has never been so pleasurable indeed - there is even space for miniature illustrations on each page!

The bite-sized chunks are presented in no-nonsense, punchy style, though the present reader wishes a lesser degree of dumbed-down informality had been resorted to, especially in tips sections; each topic is usually headed by somewhat purposeless prefatory remarks which further reduce the amount of real coverage afforded each theme. (And on that sort of carping note, the book is not exempt from the odd proofreading lapse...) Likewise, the Almanac's merits are also its drawbacks: it can be relied upon as an entertaining jack of all trades but it certainly is the master of none - and it will quickly feel limited in areas one knows a bit about. As is one of its explicit aims in fact, its best use is therefore as a compendium of data to have near at hand in one single location and as a quick reference guide, which is where its extremely thorough index comes in handy. Inevitably in the fast-paced world of gaming, some of the sections (especially those based on hardware specs or featuring web-related contents) were already slightly dated by the time the book hit the shelves and will be well past their read-by date by the end of the calendar year. Still this is an enjoyable, unpretentious read particularly worth recommending to those who are looking for a teasing overview of an increasingly sophisticated field.