A fascinating, fast-paced coming-of-age story- set in the bedrooms, computer rooms, and arcades of the 80s, when the first computer kids were pioneering the frontier of digital culture. In this dazzling personal account, David Bennahum shows how computer games, digital pranks, and jerry-rigged programs came to inspire legions of boys in the early 80s, shaping them, just as TV and rock 'n' roll defined earlier generations. Packed with little-known computer lore and set against the background of the emerging information age, Extra Life is nothing less than a grand digital adventure. "With low-key but astute introspection, Extra Life strips the surface layers to find the roots of both a generation-one expert at converting alienation into self-sufficiency-and one of its milestones." -New York Times "In telling the story of the burgeoning computer culture, Bennahum winds up with a beautifully told story in which he comes to understand how his fascination with computers helped shaped the way he thinks, the way he learns, and the way he copes." -Kirkus Reviews "A Catcher in the Rye for the Atari generation." -Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus and Ecstasy Club