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Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite
Leveling Up! From Playing Games to a Stellar Career in Silicon Valley is a short memoir of author Elbert Lai who gave up the path to a medical profession after he graduated from U.C. Berkeley, and embarked on a life adventure that would take him through numerous jobs, volunteer stints, part-time, start-ups, and established companies. Finally, he found his firm standing in Silicon Valley, and without his passion for playing video games, he might never have started his journey and shared it with readers in the first place.
Despite its premise as his love of playing video games and its hidden benefits, author Elbert Lai starts with his favorite books and authors when he was a child. I could not help but feel extremely delighted when he mentioned TSR’s addictive role playing game, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, as I was a fan of it and still am today. Born in 1981, by the time I was old enough to know how to play AD&D, this game had already progressed to its second edition. Lai’s story on his hit and miss journey in the workforce is humorous but enlightening.
All in all, a quick and fun read. I finished it in just one sitting in one day. Even with its short length, Leveling Up! From Playing Games to a Stellar Career in Silicon Valley is concise with an interesting look at the golden era of dot-com and its after effects. Furthermore, it unexpectedly triggered the best memories I had of the '80s and '90s.
