Discusses the essential elements in creating a successful game, how playing games and learning are connected, and what makes a game boring or fun.

Legendary game designer and author of the classic "A Theory of Fun for Game Design," Raph Koster is back with his first volume of selected essays. "Postmortems" collects new material and classic writings to provide a history of the development of virtual worlds, including behind-the-scenes glimpses of Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and more.

Adorable puppy Mitzi visits a nursing home where she helps the residents celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New year.

Of the many film artists displaced by Hitler, Henry Koster was among the few who successfully adapted to the American studio system. Koster directed 45 successful motion pictures in a wide variety of genres all of which share the interplay of warm human feelings- a trademark of his films.

R.M. Koster’s Tinieblas Trilogy, which began with The Prince, a National Book Award finalist, and continued with the cult classic The Dissertation, is one of the landmarks of American literature in the second half of the twentieth century. The first major work of English-language magical realism, the trilogy has been praised by Anthony Burgess and John le Carré, among many others. Mandragon, the final novel, is the darkly uproarious story of a strange and magical creature who toys with both sexes and reads minds, and who transforms the drought-wracked land of Tinieblas.

Now in full color, the 10th anniversary edition of this classic book takes you deep into the influences that underlie modern video games, and examines the elements they share with traditional games such as checkers. At the heart of his exploration, veteran game designer Raph Koster takes a close look at the concept of fun and why it’s the most vital element in any game. Why do some games become boring quickly, while others remain fun for years? How do games serve as fundamental and powerful learning tools? Whether you’re a game developer, dedicated gamer, or curious observer, this illustrated, fully updated edition helps you understand what drives this major cultural force, and inspires you to take it further. You’ll discover that: Games play into our innate ability to seek patterns and solve puzzles Most successful games are built upon the same elements Slightly more females than males now play games Many games still teach primitive survival skills Fictional dressing for modern games is more developed than the conceptual elements Truly creative designers seldom use other games for inspiration Games are beginning to evolve beyond their prehistoric origins

Americans have long debated the cause of the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many have argued that the attack was a brilliant Japanese military coup, or a failure of U.S. intelligence agencies, or even a conspiracy of the Roosevelt administration. But despite the attention historians have paid to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the truth about that fateful day has remained a mystery—until now. In Operation Snow: How a Soviet Mole in FDR’s White House Triggered Pearl Harbor, author John Koster uses recently declassified evidence and never-before-translated documents to tell the real story of the day that FDR memorably declared would live in infamy, forever. Operation Snow shows how Joseph Stalin and the KGB used a vast network of double-agents and communist sympathizers—most notably, Harry Dexter White—to lead Japan into war against the United States, demonstrating incontestable Soviet involvement behind the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A thrilling tale of espionage, mystery and war, Operation Snow will forever change the way we think about Pearl Harbor and World War II.