Tom Bissell
Tom Bissell: Author, Journalist, and Cultural Critic
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Full Name and Common Aliases
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Tom Bissell is an American author, journalist, and cultural critic born on February 28, 1969. He is also known for his pseudonym, TB.
Birth and Death Dates
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Bissell was born in 1969 and is still alive as of this writing.
Nationality and Profession(s)
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Nationality: American
Professions: Author, Journalist, Cultural Critic
Tom Bissell's work spans multiple genres, including fiction, nonfiction, and criticism. He has written for various publications, such as The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, and Granta.
Early Life and Background
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Bissell grew up in the United States. Details about his early life are not extensively documented; however, it is known that he developed a passion for writing at an early age. He began writing short stories as a teenager.
Major Accomplishments
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- Tom Bissell's first book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, was published in 2008 and received critical acclaim.
- His subsequent works include Exterminate All the Brutes (2019) and The Father of All Things: One Family, One Tycoon, and the Untold Story of the People Who Made America Work (2007), which explores the life of oil tycoon Joseph Reddeford Bordeen.
Notable Works or Actions
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- Bissell's writing often delves into various aspects of human culture, including technology, gaming, and politics. His work is characterized by its engaging narrative style.
- As a journalist, Tom has contributed to numerous publications, providing insightful commentary on the intersection of technology and society.
Impact and Legacy
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Tom Bissell's writings have made significant contributions to various literary genres. He has not only explored new themes but also elevated the standards for nonfiction writing with his engaging storytelling style.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
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- Tom Bissell is widely quoted and remembered due to his thought-provoking writings that explore human culture through multiple lenses.
- His ability to tackle complex subjects in an accessible manner has made him a respected figure in the literary world.
As an author, journalist, and cultural critic, Tom Bissell's work continues to influence contemporary discussions on technology, gaming, politics, and more.
Quotes by Tom Bissell
Had Dr. Seuss been a slightly insane pornographer, he might have written a book like this. – reviewing Nicholson Baker’s House of Holes.
More than any other form of entertainment, video games tend to divide rooms into Us and Them. We are, in effect, admitting that we like to spend our time shooting monsters, and They are, not unreasonably, failing to find the value in that.
You have agency, yes, but what of it? It is just a game. But when a game does this well, you lose track of your manipulation of it, and its manipulation of you, and instead feel inserted so deeply inside the game that your mind, and your feelings, become as seemingly crucial to its operation as its many millions of lines of code. It is the sensation that the game itself is as suddenly, unknowably alive as you are.
It is the devious writer indeed who writes in such a way that the critic who finds himself unresponsive to the writer’s vision feels like a philistine.
Charyn, like Nabokov, is that most fiendish sort of writer-so seductive as to beg imitation, so singular as to make imitation impossible.
To create anything — whether a short story or a magazine profile or a film or a sitcom — is to believe, if only momentarily, you are capable of magic. These essays are about that magic — which is sometimes perilous, sometimes infectious, sometimes fragile, sometimes failed, sometimes infuriating, sometimes triumphant, and sometimes tragic. I went up there. I wrote. I tried to see.
The way games are designed is you create a story, and then you create an obstacle course inside that story, and the player has to endure it to see more. So it's artificial. Game designers are so intensely worried about people getting bored that they pile on busy work for players to do.
Sport-based video games occupy an odd space within the sphere of modern home entertainment. Reliably enjoyed by millions, the sport-based video game stands at what sometimes feels like an oblique angle from the larger medium, and in ways that can be hard to articulate.