These books are excellent! I read them cover to cover. The first one I read is Super Mario by Jeff Ryan. It mostly chronicles the development of Nintendo from an arcade game business to a home console business. My favorite takeaway from the book was the quote by Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi, (who also invented the Gameboy). Yokoi talked about the value using existing technology in new ways, or:

Lateral Thinking with Seasoned Technology

That way you don't need to come up with new technology all the time which is really expensive. Just use something that already exists in a new way.

Thats what I did with the 1UPcard. I didn't re-invent the wheel, I just used existing materials available to me to create the world's best cartridge video game cleaning card. The cards are the same size as the driver's license in your pocket, and the idea of the cleaning pads came in the felt furniture pad section of the hardware store.  

Buy the book on Amazon here.

Super Mario by Jeff Ryan.

The next book I read was Console Wars by Blake Harris. It's called a "business thriller," which it is! It's well-written in a dialogue style. The focus of the book is the rise and fall of Sega of America led by Tom Kalinske, former CEO of Mattel and the man responsible for Barbie's ridiculous popularity.

It's available here.

Console Wars by Blake J. Harris

Have you read any other good books about retrogaming? Leave a note!