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War Games
When a young computer genius is able to tap into the American computerized defense system, he risks setting off a nuclear war.
224 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1983
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January 28, 2020
Ladies and gentlemen I don't know if I'm going to have time to finish this review, since I have to go and pick up my father and sister around 13:30, since it's my mother's birthday, and we're going to eat out. It may be the last in a long time since I have, to help my father write my father a book, and a thesis. I got away with it this morning, because I have to make arrangements with my sister.
This book was going to be dedicated to my cousin, since Wargames was one of his favorite films, so that popular angers do not fall so that I could write I will give him an alias, which he will recognize Galloglass.
The first thing I want to do is apologize to the fans, I was doubting that I notice putting Wargames. Since I was oscillating (like the Poe pendulum) for much of the narrative between the 1-3 stars. I finally opted for a middle ground the two stars. I must admit, not to spoil the effect, that days before reading the novelization of the film (which I bought in a second-hand bookstore, by the way, with a very very friendly staff) I saw the film, which I liked. So suspense must not be blamed on this film, but on the disastrous additions to me that Mr Bischoff has made. The first thing I must say is that I met this film, thanks to the praise sdedicated by Ernest Cline in his interesting novel, which paid a great tribute to the 80's "Ready Player One". One of the tests that the protagonist has to perform is to act as Lightman in Wargames, and from that moment he wanted to see the film at whatever price. Regarding "A Ready Player One" here you have my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... it can be said, which I liked. I would have scored a lot better, if I hadn't given it for the political corrections, which I noted in my review. Just like it happened to Bischoff. It was certainly to start reading chapters of "Wargames" and the author infuriated me more at every step. Specifically the first three chapters. In the first chapter he shows us, as Hallorhan makes a decision convinced by the voices of a hippie bride, who had to give to marijuana Call me weird, but I'm a person, who has a lot of phobia of cultural movements, which started in the '60s. They talked about peace and love, but it was the least practiced, for for me it was a time of degradation, and moral corruption, from which we have not yet recovered. I don't blame people, i'm against the Vietnam War. She was very ill-carried, and many barbarities were committed on the part of both sides. I am also critical of the Iraq war, which has ultimately turned Iraq into a failed state, and allowed, from nowhere to emerge a monster called DAESH (in the Iraq war I want to denounce the nefarious efforts perpetrated by Elliot Abrams that led to the genocide of Christians and Yazidis, who were protected with Saddam Hussein, and these dusts are born with these sludge), as well as the withdrawal of the war from the Vietnam came out the monster of the Red Khemeres in Cambodia. What me off is the left's instrumentalization of both conflicts, because what mattered least to them is that they died Vietnamese, and Iraqis in those conflicts. It is reprehensible that only the killings of one side will be denounced, and that the crimes of the Communists and the Viet-Kong should be overlooked. You can't help thinking, that South Vietnam was abandoned to its fate. After America made infinite mistakes. . How to support decolonization policies. Nor was the formula to help France adequate, nor did the proposed third ways help, nor did the assassination of President Diem on the orders of the American ambassador benefit from the conflict. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... We can come up with part of the catastrophe by reading Graham's novels, Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" and Morris West's "The Ambassador." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... We have already been very critical of American foreign policy. Now it's the turn (very briefly) for the society of the 60-70s, which for me was a disaster. It encouraged crime, and significantly eroded moral values, and crunched society, and generated a culture of suspicion, which continues to this day. Not to mention, it caused uprooting. It is the moment when drugs are liberalized, and serial criminals like Charles Manson appear, which is the fruit of these corrupt times. Of those who will not go away until the Reagan era (with qualms). So I don't think it's a model. What me off about the first chapter was the reasoning. You can't kill 20 million people for political misadventures. Does the author call political disagreements a murderous regime that has killed 6 million people with Lenin, 20 million with Stalin, 60 million people with Mao Zedong, and who has been has imposed a prison system, and ruined those countries? That political disagreement has led to 100 million deaths in the past century, and continues to cause deaths, as seen in Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba. Halorhan makes the right decision, but not by the right decision (which I am not a fan of capitalism, which I also find monstrous, and I am on a third path that would be the Chestertonian distributism) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . You have no right to wipe out 20 million people. In the second chapter I am angry about the contempt shown by the author for Christianity in the person of the protagonist the self-taught child a Whizzkid with the machines David Lightman. I didn't like Lightman's contempt for his parents, but what me off, faith that the author added this scene that wasn't in the book, to show that as a wise man Lightman should devote himself to important things, as if he were a little Steve Jobs, Marc Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates (which in the end have become sharks), and that the religion thing, and go to see the pastor is foolish. I asked me is why does the author put scenes from his harvest that don't appear in the film? Besides, to offend people, which is what it's meant to be. In the end he turns his hero into a kind of individualist, who only thinks of him in the style of Thoreau https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... It's certainly the moral prototype That Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris would want. The last one was already talking about it in a book. Without realizing that when he stops believing in religion not only is all allowed, as Dostoyevsky says, but it is also when he begins to show symptoms of decadence and falling. Lightman doesn't realize what he's got, including a computer because his father and mother and vulgar people he despises sacrifices himself, so that he may have it. This seemed to me to be yet yet yet a further sign of insensitivity on the part of the author. The third chapter is not better either, since the untold author puts adultery between McKitrik, and Miss Pat Healy, who may be sketched in the film, but we don't know what he's coming for. In addition, on page 80 the protagonist drops a blasphemy without coming to a fairy tale. That's why I chose to put a (2), although we see, that when Bischoff adapts to the film the book improves. Because the movie is interesting. The love story between Lightman, and Jennifer Mack. The climate of cold war-in-the-law-in-the-law is very well reproduced. Falken is a great name for a scientist, and I think Joshua will certainly be part of those computers that will put humanity in check like Hal in Michael C. Clarke's "Odyssey in Space 2001" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... or the Amy of my friend the writer Jorge Sáez Criado in "Memories of the Sunset" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... because there is one thing in common between Joshua and Amy and it is that they are both machines that learn from their mistakes, but the difference between Joshua and Amy is that terrifyingly the second ends up outperforming humans, and ends up dominating them. Jorge shows us what the writers don't dare, nor does the author of WarGames https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... show us what would happen if the computer were to revolt, the result being a world more like Terminator, or Matrix. In novels we could resort to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series https://www.goodreads.com/series/4050... (remember that Terminator is also going to be a premiere in the 1980s). It is a fear of my good friend Jorge Sáez Criado, that the machines, which are increasingly skilled, will end up rising against their creator. We see the case of Deep Blue, or that in a video game contest whoever won has been the machine, and it's a very real fear. It is interesting to contrast this view with others, I think of G.K. Chesterton and his distributism, influenced by Vincent McNabb https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and against that machinism are also alert people like Wendell Berry https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... excessive energy dependence, and the fight against nature would lead to an impoverishment of man's abilities, and to be able to do less things. In fact, millennials have trouble relating to the world they live in. This was brilliantly denounced by Hideo Okuda in the short story "The Strange Methods of Dr. Irabu" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... friends. One of Constantin's fears of Virgil Gheorgiu is that man behaved like a machine, and lost his humanity. We see this in "Hour 25" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... also in spite of H.G. Wells was denounced by Charles Chaplin in his wonderful Great Dictator. In fact it is interesting to see in this novel how McKitrik embodies that scientific, and humanist view of the indefinite progress believed in both H.G. Wells, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and Isaac Asimov https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... We see that against this socialist-communist vision, and against this right-wing materialism in which I believe, that we can put Ayn Rand https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... this was brilliantly answered to my view by Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (who had a bitter controversy with Herbert George Wells), and G.K. Chesterton in his superb https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... G.K. Chesterton's criticisms did not seem to consist of the machine revolting against its creator, even if one of its characters John Turnbull Angus imagined it in "The Invisible Man" (a short case of "The innocence of the father Brown" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... yet he bent me more to think than G.K. Chesterton tends more to believe that the machine is not infallible, because the one who drives it is a human being, as he showed us brilliantly in "The Error of the Machine" a short case of "Father Brown's Wisdom" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... in fact that partly consists of the theories of my friend Manuel Alfonseca that "one thing is good or bad depending on how we use it" that does not mean that he has not fantasized about the possibility that his machines develop feelings like in "Operation Quatuor" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... also in that line was Philip K. Dick https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and Brian Aldiss https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... However my friend Professor Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... it poses it as just a literary divert. For the mitomaniacs of the 80s it is a cult film without doubt, that criticizes the futility of war, and warns against the fear of the different, while also aware of the fleetingness of life. In the novel I liked the character of Stephen Falken, and although the falcon mask is not removed it is very interesting the confrontation between Berringer and McKitrik (being of course on Berringer's side). The final third makes the novel not so fiasco, although some comments against the Republicans (Americans, who are not Spanish, hurtful). This novel is a little like the "King of Jesters" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... by Tanja Kinkel in that novel you realize how great the book is "Endless Story" and the same thing happens here, that the fan of the film will realize how good Wargames is in the final third of the novel (suffice to say that it is the best thing about the book). That said, it doesn't prevent the author's huge blunders. Although he did one thing well not to end up like the film and add an ending, because the cinematic, and literary language are different, and sometimes they don't get along. Pd. I think the ending is a little optimistic it's more likely that the computer would have reacted as in Doraemon's film at Atlantis Castle of Evil, but I like happy endings.
This book was going to be dedicated to my cousin, since Wargames was one of his favorite films, so that popular angers do not fall so that I could write I will give him an alias, which he will recognize Galloglass.
The first thing I want to do is apologize to the fans, I was doubting that I notice putting Wargames. Since I was oscillating (like the Poe pendulum) for much of the narrative between the 1-3 stars. I finally opted for a middle ground the two stars. I must admit, not to spoil the effect, that days before reading the novelization of the film (which I bought in a second-hand bookstore, by the way, with a very very friendly staff) I saw the film, which I liked. So suspense must not be blamed on this film, but on the disastrous additions to me that Mr Bischoff has made. The first thing I must say is that I met this film, thanks to the praise sdedicated by Ernest Cline in his interesting novel, which paid a great tribute to the 80's "Ready Player One". One of the tests that the protagonist has to perform is to act as Lightman in Wargames, and from that moment he wanted to see the film at whatever price. Regarding "A Ready Player One" here you have my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... it can be said, which I liked. I would have scored a lot better, if I hadn't given it for the political corrections, which I noted in my review. Just like it happened to Bischoff. It was certainly to start reading chapters of "Wargames" and the author infuriated me more at every step. Specifically the first three chapters. In the first chapter he shows us, as Hallorhan makes a decision convinced by the voices of a hippie bride, who had to give to marijuana Call me weird, but I'm a person, who has a lot of phobia of cultural movements, which started in the '60s. They talked about peace and love, but it was the least practiced, for for me it was a time of degradation, and moral corruption, from which we have not yet recovered. I don't blame people, i'm against the Vietnam War. She was very ill-carried, and many barbarities were committed on the part of both sides. I am also critical of the Iraq war, which has ultimately turned Iraq into a failed state, and allowed, from nowhere to emerge a monster called DAESH (in the Iraq war I want to denounce the nefarious efforts perpetrated by Elliot Abrams that led to the genocide of Christians and Yazidis, who were protected with Saddam Hussein, and these dusts are born with these sludge), as well as the withdrawal of the war from the Vietnam came out the monster of the Red Khemeres in Cambodia. What me off is the left's instrumentalization of both conflicts, because what mattered least to them is that they died Vietnamese, and Iraqis in those conflicts. It is reprehensible that only the killings of one side will be denounced, and that the crimes of the Communists and the Viet-Kong should be overlooked. You can't help thinking, that South Vietnam was abandoned to its fate. After America made infinite mistakes. . How to support decolonization policies. Nor was the formula to help France adequate, nor did the proposed third ways help, nor did the assassination of President Diem on the orders of the American ambassador benefit from the conflict. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... We can come up with part of the catastrophe by reading Graham's novels, Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" and Morris West's "The Ambassador." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... We have already been very critical of American foreign policy. Now it's the turn (very briefly) for the society of the 60-70s, which for me was a disaster. It encouraged crime, and significantly eroded moral values, and crunched society, and generated a culture of suspicion, which continues to this day. Not to mention, it caused uprooting. It is the moment when drugs are liberalized, and serial criminals like Charles Manson appear, which is the fruit of these corrupt times. Of those who will not go away until the Reagan era (with qualms). So I don't think it's a model. What me off about the first chapter was the reasoning. You can't kill 20 million people for political misadventures. Does the author call political disagreements a murderous regime that has killed 6 million people with Lenin, 20 million with Stalin, 60 million people with Mao Zedong, and who has been has imposed a prison system, and ruined those countries? That political disagreement has led to 100 million deaths in the past century, and continues to cause deaths, as seen in Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba. Halorhan makes the right decision, but not by the right decision (which I am not a fan of capitalism, which I also find monstrous, and I am on a third path that would be the Chestertonian distributism) https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . You have no right to wipe out 20 million people. In the second chapter I am angry about the contempt shown by the author for Christianity in the person of the protagonist the self-taught child a Whizzkid with the machines David Lightman. I didn't like Lightman's contempt for his parents, but what me off, faith that the author added this scene that wasn't in the book, to show that as a wise man Lightman should devote himself to important things, as if he were a little Steve Jobs, Marc Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates (which in the end have become sharks), and that the religion thing, and go to see the pastor is foolish. I asked me is why does the author put scenes from his harvest that don't appear in the film? Besides, to offend people, which is what it's meant to be. In the end he turns his hero into a kind of individualist, who only thinks of him in the style of Thoreau https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... It's certainly the moral prototype That Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris would want. The last one was already talking about it in a book. Without realizing that when he stops believing in religion not only is all allowed, as Dostoyevsky says, but it is also when he begins to show symptoms of decadence and falling. Lightman doesn't realize what he's got, including a computer because his father and mother and vulgar people he despises sacrifices himself, so that he may have it. This seemed to me to be yet yet yet a further sign of insensitivity on the part of the author. The third chapter is not better either, since the untold author puts adultery between McKitrik, and Miss Pat Healy, who may be sketched in the film, but we don't know what he's coming for. In addition, on page 80 the protagonist drops a blasphemy without coming to a fairy tale. That's why I chose to put a (2), although we see, that when Bischoff adapts to the film the book improves. Because the movie is interesting. The love story between Lightman, and Jennifer Mack. The climate of cold war-in-the-law-in-the-law is very well reproduced. Falken is a great name for a scientist, and I think Joshua will certainly be part of those computers that will put humanity in check like Hal in Michael C. Clarke's "Odyssey in Space 2001" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... or the Amy of my friend the writer Jorge Sáez Criado in "Memories of the Sunset" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... because there is one thing in common between Joshua and Amy and it is that they are both machines that learn from their mistakes, but the difference between Joshua and Amy is that terrifyingly the second ends up outperforming humans, and ends up dominating them. Jorge shows us what the writers don't dare, nor does the author of WarGames https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... show us what would happen if the computer were to revolt, the result being a world more like Terminator, or Matrix. In novels we could resort to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series https://www.goodreads.com/series/4050... (remember that Terminator is also going to be a premiere in the 1980s). It is a fear of my good friend Jorge Sáez Criado, that the machines, which are increasingly skilled, will end up rising against their creator. We see the case of Deep Blue, or that in a video game contest whoever won has been the machine, and it's a very real fear. It is interesting to contrast this view with others, I think of G.K. Chesterton and his distributism, influenced by Vincent McNabb https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and against that machinism are also alert people like Wendell Berry https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... excessive energy dependence, and the fight against nature would lead to an impoverishment of man's abilities, and to be able to do less things. In fact, millennials have trouble relating to the world they live in. This was brilliantly denounced by Hideo Okuda in the short story "The Strange Methods of Dr. Irabu" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... friends. One of Constantin's fears of Virgil Gheorgiu is that man behaved like a machine, and lost his humanity. We see this in "Hour 25" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... also in spite of H.G. Wells was denounced by Charles Chaplin in his wonderful Great Dictator. In fact it is interesting to see in this novel how McKitrik embodies that scientific, and humanist view of the indefinite progress believed in both H.G. Wells, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and Isaac Asimov https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... We see that against this socialist-communist vision, and against this right-wing materialism in which I believe, that we can put Ayn Rand https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... this was brilliantly answered to my view by Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (who had a bitter controversy with Herbert George Wells), and G.K. Chesterton in his superb https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... G.K. Chesterton's criticisms did not seem to consist of the machine revolting against its creator, even if one of its characters John Turnbull Angus imagined it in "The Invisible Man" (a short case of "The innocence of the father Brown" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... yet he bent me more to think than G.K. Chesterton tends more to believe that the machine is not infallible, because the one who drives it is a human being, as he showed us brilliantly in "The Error of the Machine" a short case of "Father Brown's Wisdom" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... in fact that partly consists of the theories of my friend Manuel Alfonseca that "one thing is good or bad depending on how we use it" that does not mean that he has not fantasized about the possibility that his machines develop feelings like in "Operation Quatuor" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... also in that line was Philip K. Dick https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and Brian Aldiss https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... However my friend Professor Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... it poses it as just a literary divert. For the mitomaniacs of the 80s it is a cult film without doubt, that criticizes the futility of war, and warns against the fear of the different, while also aware of the fleetingness of life. In the novel I liked the character of Stephen Falken, and although the falcon mask is not removed it is very interesting the confrontation between Berringer and McKitrik (being of course on Berringer's side). The final third makes the novel not so fiasco, although some comments against the Republicans (Americans, who are not Spanish, hurtful). This novel is a little like the "King of Jesters" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... by Tanja Kinkel in that novel you realize how great the book is "Endless Story" and the same thing happens here, that the fan of the film will realize how good Wargames is in the final third of the novel (suffice to say that it is the best thing about the book). That said, it doesn't prevent the author's huge blunders. Although he did one thing well not to end up like the film and add an ending, because the cinematic, and literary language are different, and sometimes they don't get along. Pd. I think the ending is a little optimistic it's more likely that the computer would have reacted as in Doraemon's film at Atlantis Castle of Evil, but I like happy endings.
February 9, 2020
My mother gave me this book around the age of 13 and I read it because I loved the movie. The book is basically the movie script in written form. However, some scenes were added along with more character background.
Overall, this is a quick read that complimented a great movie. While I did not gain additional insight, I enjoyed reading it.
Overall, this is a quick read that complimented a great movie. While I did not gain additional insight, I enjoyed reading it.
August 23, 2025
Nisam neki fan SF-a ali s obzirom da obožavam ovaj film morao sam pročitati i knjigu nadasve jer do prije par dana nisam znao da je isti snimljen po knjizi. Zanimljiva knjiga i vjerno ekranizovana.
December 27, 2025
When I finally found this book I was excited, but I liked the movie more. It was boring and not really up to date anymore.
February 6, 2023
So far I’ve been watching the movie, and then reading the novelization. I’m excited to see how this goes in reverse.
January 17, 2024
So much fun!! This has everything you'd want in an 80s, teen rom-com, cold war, scifi, thriller.. including some misogyny, but alas.
January 8, 2021
Didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed the film!
January 12, 2011
When I was a kid, I loved novelizations of movies, even ones I hadn't seen.
September 29, 2020
In 1983, long before his infamous day off, Ferris Bueller saved the world from nuclear holocaust.
In...WHAT...WAAAAYYY, you might ask.
Movie novelist David Bischoff will show you. If you allow it.
The novel to the hit film Wargames is not exactly the height of science fiction. I mean any dumass can write elegantly about how the Sun goes down like a heated quarter into the slot on a video arcade machine (no lie, fans, that line will be in there) but it's very good all the same. And the core message is as true today as it was when the film came out: a war game is like tic tac toe-- even if you win, you lose.
Certain presidents named Ron and Don are not big fans of the book or film. They probably consider the message motivated by a political agenda destructive to America's commitment to values, blah blah blah. Human development can only improve so fast.
In this book, a young genius named David Lightman enjoys hacking computers for games to play, as well as outsmarting his teacher Mr Kessler. The banter I reprint here is classic:
Kessler: Who once suggested reproduction without actual sex?
David: Uh, Your wife?
Boom.
David is still human despite his cybernetic origins, crushing on hottie girlfriend Jennifer Mack and frustrated with mom and dad. He's a teenager. When we were teens it what we did.
One day David stumbles on a program once created by British scientist Stephen Falken and given the name Joshua after Falken's dead son. He starts playing something from the game's list, a game which would have bad repercussions over the next two days: global thermonuclear war.
Already I'm thinking in terms of the HAL computer from the movie 2001: "Good morning Dave."
Joshua plays the game on David's computer....and somehow transfers it to the computer at Norad in Washington DC! Not so good morning, Dave!!!
Now the FBI is after David, and all references to a certain Kafka are made at reader's discretion. And Joshua, like HAL, is growing schizoid, paranoid and...dare I say this...BERZERK?
With time running out for a mankind he has unwittingly put at risk of nuclear annihilation, David and Jennifer go cross country to find the one man who can make things right, a legend long thought dead, Dr Stephen Falken. It's time....to Falken hunt! (Lol)
Very suspenseful retelling of the classic 80s film which kinda plays on fears of nuke fallout and on Russians being bad guys which to me have no basis for reality whatever. But then that's why a lot of us tend to like 80s movies. Again: Boom.
Four stars
The only winning move is to read and enjoy!
In...WHAT...WAAAAYYY, you might ask.
Movie novelist David Bischoff will show you. If you allow it.
The novel to the hit film Wargames is not exactly the height of science fiction. I mean any dumass can write elegantly about how the Sun goes down like a heated quarter into the slot on a video arcade machine (no lie, fans, that line will be in there) but it's very good all the same. And the core message is as true today as it was when the film came out: a war game is like tic tac toe-- even if you win, you lose.
Certain presidents named Ron and Don are not big fans of the book or film. They probably consider the message motivated by a political agenda destructive to America's commitment to values, blah blah blah. Human development can only improve so fast.
In this book, a young genius named David Lightman enjoys hacking computers for games to play, as well as outsmarting his teacher Mr Kessler. The banter I reprint here is classic:
Kessler: Who once suggested reproduction without actual sex?
David: Uh, Your wife?
Boom.
David is still human despite his cybernetic origins, crushing on hottie girlfriend Jennifer Mack and frustrated with mom and dad. He's a teenager. When we were teens it what we did.
One day David stumbles on a program once created by British scientist Stephen Falken and given the name Joshua after Falken's dead son. He starts playing something from the game's list, a game which would have bad repercussions over the next two days: global thermonuclear war.
Already I'm thinking in terms of the HAL computer from the movie 2001: "Good morning Dave."
Joshua plays the game on David's computer....and somehow transfers it to the computer at Norad in Washington DC! Not so good morning, Dave!!!
Now the FBI is after David, and all references to a certain Kafka are made at reader's discretion. And Joshua, like HAL, is growing schizoid, paranoid and...dare I say this...BERZERK?
With time running out for a mankind he has unwittingly put at risk of nuclear annihilation, David and Jennifer go cross country to find the one man who can make things right, a legend long thought dead, Dr Stephen Falken. It's time....to Falken hunt! (Lol)
Very suspenseful retelling of the classic 80s film which kinda plays on fears of nuke fallout and on Russians being bad guys which to me have no basis for reality whatever. But then that's why a lot of us tend to like 80s movies. Again: Boom.
Four stars
The only winning move is to read and enjoy!
August 15, 2020
The novelisation of the 1983 movie starring Matthew Broderick.
A young computer hacker accidentally dials into NORAD's defence AI, Joshua, and sets in motion a series of war games which bring the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Up front I'll point out that I've loved the movie of this story since I was a kid (not to mention having a huge crush on Ally Sheedy) and, in all honesty, that probably impacted my enjoyment of this book in a way that wouldn't apply to someone who's never seen it.
The short version is, however, that I really enjoyed this novelisation.
In the early 1980s there were three things that would've been on the mind of almost any teenage boy; computer games, girls and the very real danger of nuclear war. This story taps into all of those things by showing us a computer hacker who inadvertently sets a war game in motion that could lead to nuclear annihilation, following his desperate attempts to avert disaster whilst simultaneously developing a relationship with a cute girl from his high school class.
It all sounds somewhat improbable, but the truth is that NORAD genuinely has been hacked in the past and for a long time mutually assured destruction was a real possibility in the tensions of the Cold War. In fact, I suspect that a great many people too young to remember the Cold War will find this the hardest part of the story to credit, but like a great many thrillers with similar themes, it is the insanity of the geopolitical situation that gives this book a great deal of tension.
Aside from the tense Cold War atmosphere, I have to admit to really enjoying the very 80s love story threaded throughout, being both a sucker for a bit of romance and for the aforementioned Ally Sheedy.
All this adds up to the fact that, like the movie, I really enjoyed this little slice of 80s classic.
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A young computer hacker accidentally dials into NORAD's defence AI, Joshua, and sets in motion a series of war games which bring the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Up front I'll point out that I've loved the movie of this story since I was a kid (not to mention having a huge crush on Ally Sheedy) and, in all honesty, that probably impacted my enjoyment of this book in a way that wouldn't apply to someone who's never seen it.
The short version is, however, that I really enjoyed this novelisation.
In the early 1980s there were three things that would've been on the mind of almost any teenage boy; computer games, girls and the very real danger of nuclear war. This story taps into all of those things by showing us a computer hacker who inadvertently sets a war game in motion that could lead to nuclear annihilation, following his desperate attempts to avert disaster whilst simultaneously developing a relationship with a cute girl from his high school class.
It all sounds somewhat improbable, but the truth is that NORAD genuinely has been hacked in the past and for a long time mutually assured destruction was a real possibility in the tensions of the Cold War. In fact, I suspect that a great many people too young to remember the Cold War will find this the hardest part of the story to credit, but like a great many thrillers with similar themes, it is the insanity of the geopolitical situation that gives this book a great deal of tension.
Aside from the tense Cold War atmosphere, I have to admit to really enjoying the very 80s love story threaded throughout, being both a sucker for a bit of romance and for the aforementioned Ally Sheedy.
All this adds up to the fact that, like the movie, I really enjoyed this little slice of 80s classic.
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January 6, 2026
As expected from a novelization, this book follows the movie very closely, which works in its favor. If you’re a fan of WarGames, you’ll likely appreciate how faithfully the story is reproduced on the page. The familiarity makes it an easy read, especially for readers who already have the film’s pacing and tone in mind.
Where the book stands out is in what it adds rather than what it changes. Several scenes not included in the movie help clarify character actions and motivations, and the first-person perspective, rotating between different characters, gives access to their inner thoughts in a way the film naturally can’t. That added interiority makes the story feel more reflective and, at times, more personal.
The biggest differences between book and film involve character portrayals and a dropped side plot. The parents’ personalities are handled differently, and a relationship subplot present in the book doesn’t make it into the movie. While I think the film’s choices were ultimately for the better, these elements still make the novel a more interesting companion piece rather than a redundant retelling.
Where the book stands out is in what it adds rather than what it changes. Several scenes not included in the movie help clarify character actions and motivations, and the first-person perspective, rotating between different characters, gives access to their inner thoughts in a way the film naturally can’t. That added interiority makes the story feel more reflective and, at times, more personal.
The biggest differences between book and film involve character portrayals and a dropped side plot. The parents’ personalities are handled differently, and a relationship subplot present in the book doesn’t make it into the movie. While I think the film’s choices were ultimately for the better, these elements still make the novel a more interesting companion piece rather than a redundant retelling.
June 19, 2019
O livro é bom mas não era aquilo de que eu estava à espera.
Mas, apesar disso, não posso dizer que WarGames tenha sido um mau livro. É fácil criarmos empatia com as personagens, a acção decorre a um bom ritmo e é inegável que ali para o final há uns momento de alguma tensão... ora, tudo isto somado, faz com que seja um daqueles livros difíceis de pousar, visto que estamos sempre à espera de descobrir o que virá a seguir.
O livro perde, sobretudo, por ser extremamente previsível mas, lá está, WarGames é de 1983 e acredito que na altura em que foi publicado tenha sido visto como inovador... Hoje em dia é que o conceito da inteligência artificial já está um bocadinho batido. Ainda assim, se não tiverem mais nada para ler, WarGames é uma opção visto que se lê bem e, à sua maneira, acaba por entreter.
Visitem UmBlogueSobreLivros e leiam a review completa!
Opinião | "WarGames" (1983) de David Bischoff
Mas, apesar disso, não posso dizer que WarGames tenha sido um mau livro. É fácil criarmos empatia com as personagens, a acção decorre a um bom ritmo e é inegável que ali para o final há uns momento de alguma tensão... ora, tudo isto somado, faz com que seja um daqueles livros difíceis de pousar, visto que estamos sempre à espera de descobrir o que virá a seguir.
O livro perde, sobretudo, por ser extremamente previsível mas, lá está, WarGames é de 1983 e acredito que na altura em que foi publicado tenha sido visto como inovador... Hoje em dia é que o conceito da inteligência artificial já está um bocadinho batido. Ainda assim, se não tiverem mais nada para ler, WarGames é uma opção visto que se lê bem e, à sua maneira, acaba por entreter.
Visitem UmBlogueSobreLivros e leiam a review completa!
Opinião | "WarGames" (1983) de David Bischoff
Read
October 4, 2024"WarGames" is a 1983 novel by David Bischoff that explores the concept of computers "that can learn" and the unintended consequences of computer automation of nuclear missiles without a human in the loop. The key equation that allows computers to learn is called the gradient descent:
θnew=θold−η⋅∇θJ(θ)
Where:
θ represents the parameters (or weights) of the model that are being adjusted.
η is the learning rate, which controls how large a step is taken during each update.
∇ θ J(θ) is the gradient (or partial derivatives) of the loss function J(θ) with respect to the parameters θ.
θnew=θold−η⋅∇θJ(θ)
Where:
θ represents the parameters (or weights) of the model that are being adjusted.
η is the learning rate, which controls how large a step is taken during each update.
∇ θ J(θ) is the gradient (or partial derivatives) of the loss function J(θ) with respect to the parameters θ.
July 8, 2023
I really enjoyed the nail biting movie back in the 80s and the book brought back a lot of memories. David Lightman enters a military program he thinks as a computer game and suddenly the world is at stake... what a compelling story. It was even before I had my first computer. Okay, the novel doesn't bring much new to the intriguing movie but it definitely is worth reading. If only to have some memories back on the early days of computing before smart phones and so on... recommended!
September 7, 2017
This is a great what if story. When a computer whiz hacks is way into the military computers and finds that the games he thought he were playing are anything but that. He's started something that could have deadly results. I love this story that was written before the advanced technology of today's world and that makes it even more scary.
November 22, 2018
One (long) sentence review: Self-aware, very real "hacking" for that time and a peek into terrifying nostalgia of late cold war era, movie is at least that good as novelization, one part was really slow, but the rest is a ride.
July 1, 2022
There’s an odd novelty in reading a book based on a screenplay for a movie.
Without the charm of Matthew Broderick, this text has a tendency to fall flat, but it’s still perhaps an amusing read and something of a time capsule.
Without the charm of Matthew Broderick, this text has a tendency to fall flat, but it’s still perhaps an amusing read and something of a time capsule.
June 20, 2017
Novelization of the classic film about computer mischief. Well done and entertaining, and I love the idea of a computer trying to work out why global thermonuclear war is bad.
October 29, 2017
Not bad, definitely based on the movie without a lot of extra background thought given to the plot. I liked the movie a lot, so enjoyed the book well enough.
October 30, 2019
This book is so good. It tells how a world war 3 could start so fast. My favorite part is when the boy changes his grades and his friend’s grades. It also says how bad tensions were in the Cold War.
February 4, 2020
Great fun for teens when a computer program is hacked beginning a war.
May 16, 2020
When I read this book (2013) I mostly enjoyed the references to the 80s and Basic programming language.
July 16, 2020
Just watch the movie.
July 19, 2022
Enjoyable. Thrilling. Exciting. No life-changer but no regrets either. The ending definitely feels hastily written though and it feels like romance is introduced just for the sake of having romance.
August 13, 2022
Muy entretenido , con ritmo y muy visual. Disfrutable hasta el final #nostalgia80
December 30, 2023
Not a real novel but a novelization, so no surprise in it.
The ending, which is not in the film, is nice.
The ending, which is not in the film, is nice.
December 4, 2025
A reread. Originally given two stars as I didn't really enjoy it. Thank goodness for the reread as it's a fine novelisation of a good film. Novelisations can be wonderful.
June 14, 2020
I love this movie and this book is a pretty great adaptation of the movie. Adds a good bit of background info.
October 10, 2019
This is very much a book of its age; both the age it was written (late eighties) and the age of the protagonist (17 years). David, the seventeen year old hero, accidentally hacks into a military supercomputer, outwits trained military personal, escapes a nuclear proof military base, discovers the secret identity of a genius computer scientist and out-thinks a whole base of computer scientists. There is a very large element of wish-fulfilment going on here, which probably appealed hugely to the target audience at the time it was written, but does not bear close scrutiny. I have some nostalgia for the book, based mainly on fond-memories of the film, so for that reason I’m willing to give it a few stars but it is a period piece and young adult adventures have moved on a long way since then. I’m not sure anyone who didn’t grow up in the eighties is really going to get much out of it now.
Also, the password chosen by the main computer guy is ridiculous, even my Nana had better password security than that.
Also, the password chosen by the main computer guy is ridiculous, even my Nana had better password security than that.
February 21, 2025
I was fairly excited to get into this 80s novel full of Olivia Newton John and Invasion of the Body Snatchers references. However, I left a little discontented by it. The book has a lot of flaws that aren’t really totally it’s fault such as outdated ideas, a baseline misunderstanding of evolving technology, and many leaps that would be a lot easier for a 1985 mind than a modern one to take. However, it also has flaws that are it’s fault. Underdeveloped characters, forced romance and a clunky plot that can’t seem to really get full momentum. This isn’t a horrible read but it is a rather unimportant one. Society has just left Wargames and its ideas behind but as a light and short read, you could do worse.
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