T he way I see it, there are three types of heroes. Theres the fictional, cape-wearing, web-shooting kind. Very exciting, but also very not real.
Theres the real-life, military, nation-saving type. Worth saluting, to be sure.
And then theres a giant list of heroic figures that are unknown to most people. Top achievers whose work hasnt been properly celebrated. Theyre people whove given us important inventions or technological developments we may have taken for granted. Im absolutely fascinated by folks who have done so much but have generally lived without fanfare. Thats why Im about to give these people the attention and praise they deserve.
Of course, I should also tell you this: when I find out about one of these Awesome Achievers, my mind forms a ton of questions. Questions such as
Then, I come up with some answers.
Ill tell you about many of these people on the following pages. And Ill share some thoughts about their accomplishments and how theyve changed my life.
Warning: some of my thoughts might get pretty outrageous. But, hopefully, youll find these people and their very real discoveries as fascinating as I do. And, hopefully, youll laugh along with me.
I f theres ever a choice between playing video games and reading a book, Id take the book every time. But I still admire the creative geniuses behind video games, especially Nolan Bushnell, whos widely considered the Father of Electronic Gaming.
You might say that Mr. Bushnell was a born tinkerer and inventor; he was the kind of kid who would have been perfect for Shark Tank, had it existed in the 1950s and 1960s. As a teenager, he developed a roller-skate-mounted liquid fuel rocket in his garage. He also had a successful television repair business at that time, and he later worked at an amusement park while getting an electrical engineering degree at the University of Utah.
Not long after graduation, Mr. Bushnell moved to Silicon Valley, a region in the San Francisco Bay Area that is home to many of the worlds biggest technology companies. In 1970, he and a man named Ted Dabney designed and marketed Computer Space, the first commercial video game. And a year later, Mr. Bushnell and Mr. Dabney co-founded Atari.
Yes, Atarithe company responsible for classic video games such as Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Atari started simply, with a 1972 worldwide sensation known as Pong. Youve probably seen the gameit has a paddle on the left side, a paddle on the right side, and a ball moves back and forth on the TV screen. The object is not to let the ball get by your paddle. While it might not seem like much of a game, in the early 1970s, Pong was all the ragefirst in arcades, and then in at-home versions. Its now on permanent display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
The Pong at-home machine only played that one basic game. Mr. Bushnell and his team followed up with the Atari 2600, a console that accepted interchangeable game cartridges (more than 30 million consoles were sold following its 1977 introduction). Interestingly, it didnt come with Pong.
Mr. Bushnell not only developed video consoles and gamesincluding Centipede and Asteroidsbut he also mentored and helped launch the careers of some of the biggest names in the tech industry. Ever hear of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the men behind Apple? Before starting that company, they both worked for Mr. Bushnell, and they are credited with creating the Atari game, Breakout. (Mr. Jobs and Mr. Wozniak later offered to sell a one-third share of Apple to Mr. Bushnell for $50,000. He turned them down, and today, that stake would be worth over $330 billion.)
After selling Atari to Warner Communications, Mr. Bushnell worked in other areas of electronic media. He also founded a place to play video gamesChuck E. Cheeses. Thats right; Mr. Bushnell didnt invent pizza, but he did dream up and open the restaurant chain where kids can have a slice and a slice of interactive fun!
Without Mr. Bushnells technological wizardry, its quite possible that youd be living life without a PlayStation, Wii, or Xbox console. So, the next time you play a video game, say thank you to Mr. Bushnell. (Then put the video game down and read another book!)
PLAYING AROUND
Over $36 billion was spent on video games in a recent record year. If you spent that much at Chuck E. Cheeses, you could buy 1.44 billion one-topping pizzas, 2.88 billion soft drinks, and 57.6 billion game tokens!
According to experts, 67 percent of American households own a video game device. And video gamers ages thirteen and older play more than six hours a week. If you read more than six hours a week, your brain will get smart and your thumbs wont ache (except maybe from turning the pages).
Beginner players burn up to 350 calories during an hour of real table tennis (the kind with a real bouncing ball that your sister usually steps on when shes losing). An hour of playing Pong burns about 80 calories.
Some Atari game cartridges are worth a ton of money. Several years ago, a new, in-box copy of