Minecraft
The Unlikely Tale of Markus 'Notch' Persson and the Game that Changed Everything
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Davis
About this listen
Three years ago, 32-year-old Markus "Notch" Persson of Stockholm was an unknown and bored computer programmer. Today, he is a multi-millionaire international icon. Minecraft, the "virtual Lego" game Markus crafted in his free time, has become one of the most talked about activities since Tetris. Talked about by tens of millions of people, in fact.It is the story of unlikely success, fast money, and the power of digital technology to rattle an empire. And it is about creation, exclusion, and the feeling of not fitting in.
Here Markus opens up for the first time about his life. About his old Lego-filled desk at school. About the first computer his father brought home one day. But also about growing up in a family marked by drug abuse and conflict.
But above all it is the story of the fine line between seeming misfit and creative madman, and the birth of a tech visionary. Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus "Notch" Persson and the Game that Changed Everything is a Cinderella story for the Internet age.
©2011 Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson. English translation ©2013 by Jennifer Hawkins. (P)2014 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Not sure what I was expecting, but underwhelmed
- By William J Brown on 09-27-18
By: Ajay Agrawal, and others
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The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide
- How to Learn Programming Languages Quickly, Ace Your Programming Interview, and Land Your Software Developer Dream Job
- By: John Sonmez
- Narrated by: John Sonmez
- Length: 20 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Technical knowledge alone isn't enough - increase your software development income by leveling up your soft skills Early in his software developer career, John Sonmez discovered that technical knowledge alone isn't enough to break through to the next income level - developers need "soft skills" like the ability to learn new technologies just in time, communicate clearly with management and consulting clients, negotiate a fair hourly rate, and unite teammates and coworkers in working toward a common goal.
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The Complete Bro-grammer's Career Guide
- By Leels on 09-18-19
By: John Sonmez
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No Place to Hide
- Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
- By: Glenn Greenwald
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In May 2013, Glenn Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to have astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be the 29-year-old NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and his revelations about the agency’s widespread, systemic overreach proved to be some of the most explosive and consequential news in recent history, triggering a fierce debate over national security....
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Best Read in Print Format
- By Alfredo Ramirez on 11-22-14
By: Glenn Greenwald
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Tesla
- Inventor of the Electrical Age
- By: W. Bernard Carlson
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the 20th century. His inventions, patents, and theoretical work formed the basis of modern AC electricity, and contributed to the development of radio and television. Like his competitor Thomas Edison, Tesla was one of America's first celebrity scientists, enjoying the company of New York high society and dazzling the likes of Mark Twain with his electrical demonstrations. An astute self-promoter and gifted showman, he cultivated a public image of the eccentric genius.
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A detailed examination of Tesla's work
- By Jean on 02-01-14
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Super Pumped
- The Battle for Uber
- By: Mike Isaac
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Mike Isaac
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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A New York Times technology correspondent presents the dramatic rise and fall of Uber, set against the rapid upheaval in Silicon Valley during the mobile era. Based on hundreds of interviews with current and former Uber employees, along with previously unpublished documents, Super Pumped is a pause-resisting story of ambition and deception, obscene wealth, and bad behavior, that explores how blistering technological and financial innovation culminated in one of the most catastrophic 12-month periods in American corporate history.
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A forced narrative and a bad version of Bad Blood
- By Benji on 09-09-19
By: Mike Isaac
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Glow Kids
- How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids - and How to Break the Trance
- By: Nicholas Kardaras PhD
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In Glow Kids, Dr. Nicholas Kardaras will examine how technology - more specifically, age-inappropriate screen tech, with all of its glowing ubiquity - has profoundly affected the brains of an entire generation. Brain imaging research is showing that stimulating glowing screens are as dopaminergic (dopamine activating) to the brain’s pleasure center as sex. And a growing mountain of clinical research correlates screen tech with disorders like ADHD, addiction, anxiety, depression, increased aggression, and even psychosis.
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Fear Mongering - a modern day Mazes and Monsters
- By Veronica on 11-03-20
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Millennium
- From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization Has Changed over a Thousand Years
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In Millennium, best-selling historian Ian Mortimer takes the listener on a whirlwind tour of the last 10 centuries of Western history. It is a journey into a past vividly brought to life and bursting with ideas, that pits one century against another in his quest to measure which century saw the greatest change. We journey from a time when there was a fair chance of your village being burned to the ground by invaders - and dried human dung was a recommended cure for cancer - to a world in which explorers sailed into the unknown and civilizations came into conflict.
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Bad ending - literally
- By John Gordon on 12-14-16
By: Ian Mortimer
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Social Media Marketing Workbook: 2024 Edition - How to Use Social Media for Business
- By: Jason McDonald PhD
- Narrated by: Michael Goodrick
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn social media marketing in plain English—step by step! Buy the workbook used at Stanford Continuing Studies to teach social media marketing for business. The 2023 updated edition—all info verified and a new chapter on TikTok, plus revisions on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other major platforms....
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Great SM Reference
- By Anne on 12-31-18
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This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell
- By: Marc Fennell
- Narrated by: Marc Fennell
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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This Is Not a Game is the extraordinary untold story of the internet’s first conspiracy theory, the legend of Ong’s Hat. Marc Fennell will dive deep into a previously unexplored world of tech hippies, eccentric web subcultures and simmering paranoia, uncovering how this tongue-in-cheek artistic experiment backfired on its creator and went on to influence much of what’s wrong with the internet today.
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WOW!
- By pondo on 05-09-24
By: Marc Fennell
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Our Final Invention
- Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era
- By: James Barrat
- Narrated by: Gary Dana
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Artificial Intelligence helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see, and even who you date. It puts the "smart" in your smartphone and soon it will drive your car. It makes most of the trades on Wall Street, and controls vital energy, water, and transportation infrastructure. But Artificial Intelligence can also threaten our existence. In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI’s Holy Grail - human-level intelligence.
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Kind of chilling
- By Keegan on 04-11-15
By: James Barrat
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Early True Believers
- The Untold Story of Silicon Alley
- By: Vanessa Grigoriadis, Adam Fisher
- Narrated by: Vanessa Grigoriadis
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Original Recording
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Early True Believers: The Untold Story of Silicon Alley is a 1990s saga of ambition and innovation set in Manhattan’s Silicon Alley, a swath of downtown that served as New York City’s nerve center of tech entrepreneurship. The series features the stories of a forgotten cohort of early internet visionaries, countercultural social networks, the digital gold rush, and the lavish events that came with it, including one held in an underground Tribeca bunker that abruptly ended in a police raid—a harbinger of the upheaval to come.
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What I Never Knew
- By Charlotte Lovegrove on 08-15-24
By: Vanessa Grigoriadis, and others
What listeners say about Minecraft
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jon S.
- 05-30-16
Not a bad listen, but for newcomers to Minecraft
Provides some interesting background info on the development of the game, but not much significant insight into Notch beyond what you could find from a magazine article. Definitely aimed towards an audience unfamiliar with the game to provide a broad overview of Minecraft and its developer.
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- SAMA
- 07-05-15
Makes me want to play a constructive game
I have never played Minecraft, but as I read this book I wanted to step in and see how creative I can be in the game. (That didn't go well, but that's a different story and irrelevant here).
In this audiobook, you can find the history and philosophy behind the game, the backstory of the developers and their rise to the spotlight. It is a success story by any standard, and it will be an example of what a simple idea and basic talent can become a successful business with minimum capital to begin with.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Rodrigo Spinelli
- 12-11-15
Very interesting in depth story
I liked the book, don't get me wrong. I've been a mine craft enthusiast since when still on Bets and played countless hours on the PC and a lot more on the XBOX 360. My son played the heck out of it on PC with its many MOD variations, objective based maps, survival mode, you name it. The book does go out on tangents here and there that are not mine craft specific but adds color to the industry and what was happening in the gaming world at the time, which gives it better perspective. Kudos for the research. But in doing so sometimes the author moves a bit too far from the main theme and for a little too long. The narrator could have done a better job as there are many out there with superb voice acting. Overall it's a good read but I did mix it with other books and didn't listen to it cover to cover which to me tells me I was losing interest and had to force myself to listen at times. If I wasn't a MC fan I would have had plenty of opportunities to give up on the book.
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- Kindle Customer
- 12-25-17
Awesome!
Very interesting. Sometimes goes off on a long tangent before returning to story at hand, but in a good way overall.
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- Jacob Eugene Thomas
- 06-26-15
as an experienced gamer, amusing to listen to.
I got it for free, so not complaining. the rest of this review is filler so that an error message will go away.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Kris Hutchison
- 09-19-18
A bit too dumbed down but still good.
This book doesn’t feel like the author had any personal contact with the material and characters.
Not really a book for anyone who has any knowledge about programming or game development.
As a listen in the background book it is not bad.
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- Gudmundur
- 06-10-15
Good, but not great
Interesting story, but doesn't really get you to the edge of your seat from excitement.
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- Christopher
- 12-31-14
Inspiring tale for dream chasers.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I would definitely recommend this audiobook to a friend because it is inspiring and depicts that when you choose your goal, follow your heart, and persist at working toward your goal, you will ultimately get to where you want to be.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Markus was my favorite character in the book because I can relate to him. At least in my younger years, I was just like him.
Which scene was your favorite?
I really enjoyed listening to the part in the book where Markus is watching the payments for Minecraft accumulate in his PayPal account.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes! I started listening to it at work and when it came time to do I didn't really want to leave my desk.
Any additional comments?
The book was so great to listen to. The narrator did an outstanding job at bringing Markus' story to life and easily held my attention throughout the story. Very inspiring listen and I highly recommend it to everyone!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Elizabeth Parker
- 08-23-16
An interesting peek into the gaming industry.
An interesting peek into the gaming industry, this should be a good one to share with your kids who are mindcraft obsessed.
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- Christopher
- 03-07-14
A decent depiction of a fascinating story
Full disclosure - I've played Minecraft off and on for years and have dabbled in amateur game programming. That's probably part of why I find the story of Notch and Minecraft so fascinating.
This book is the telling of Notch's story from his childhood, first jobs, creating Minecraft, and the aftermath. I was already familiar with many aspects of the story, but the book filled in a lot of the details. In particular, the parts about Notch's family and early jobs were completely new to me. The parts about forming Mojang, its financial success, and Notch's evolving role within the company were filled with tons of details I had never heard before. The book seemed sourced from a variety of interviews of the players involved, which added a lot of color.
The book also unfortunately contained quite a bit of filler. The exhaustive descriptions of other Stockholm based game studios really added nothing. In fact, the book even concluded that chapter with a line about how this story is not about the little guys versus the big corporate giants. Also, all of the needless info from psychologists about online communities and human perception of realistic computer graphics just seemed like filler.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. The story itself is excellent. The book's telling of it is ok. Together this makes for a decent book. I'd recommend it to anyone who plays MInecraft or wishes to learn more about Notch's story. However, if you aren't already at least somewhat into Minecraft, this book will probably be quite boring.
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8 people found this helpful