Poole, Steven 1972-

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Poole, Steven 1972-

PERSONAL:

Born 1972.

CAREER:

Journalist, writer, and composer. Music composer for films and television, including The Starers Go Mental, Diablothèque, The Naughty Twins (feature film), The Picnic Pic, Vanish (commercial), The Biscuit Thief, Weekend Bird, Beginner's Luck (feature fiilm), An A to Z of the End of the World (C4 television film), The White Lady of Kinsale (C4/Discovery television), Dispatches (C4 documentary), A Short Film about Running (EVOL, 2003), and Chicago Dope (EVOL, 2006).

WRITINGS:

Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Video Games, Fourth Estate (London, England), 1999, published as Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution, Arcade (New York, NY), 2000.

Unspeak: How Words Become Weapons, How Weapons Become a Message, and How That Message Becomes Reality, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including the Edge, Independent, New Statesman, Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement.

SIDELIGHTS:

Steven Poole is a writer and composer whose first book, Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Video Games, focuses on the history of video games in modern entertainment. He also discusses various forms of games and peers into the their future in the entertainment industry and as an art form in society. In a review for Computer Gaming World, a contributor called Trigger Happy "part history, part philosophical discourse." The reviewer added that "once you dive into Trigger Happy, you'll have a hard time putting it down." Writing in the Independent, John Morrish commented: "Poole dances from topic to topic in loosely-defined chapters, zipping back and forth in videogame history to make his points much like a travelogue writer would. He's an engaging writer with a vast stockpile of anecdotes and observations to draw from."

In his next book, Unspeak: How Words Become Weapons, How Weapons Become a Message, and How That Message Becomes Reality, Poole delves into how politicians and others use a specific word or small groups of words to encompass an entire ideology or political argument. For example, he discusses the phrases "war on terror" and "intelligent design," which are frequently used in political and sociological debates in the United States and England. Throughout his discussion, Poole targets those who use these words and others as a type of pithy propaganda that reduces complex ideas that deserve widespread debate to a single viewpoint. "This book takes no word at face value, which will anger some and enlighten others," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Joanne Wilkinson, writing in Booklist, referred to Unspeak as a "thought-provoking analysis of an insidious trend." A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the book "a sharply articulated, well-documented expose of the political and economic manipulation of language."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2000, Bryan Baldus, review of Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution, p. 602; April 15, 2006, Joanne Wilkinson, review of Unspeak: How Words Become Weapons, How Weapons Become a Message, and How That Message Becomes Reality, p. 11.

Computer Gaming World, June 1, 2001, review of Trigger Happy, p. 32.

Indpendent (London, England), February 19, 2006, John Morrish, review of Unspeak.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2006, review of Unspeak, p. 279.

New Statesman, May 15, 2000, review of Trigger Happy, p. 54.

Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2006, review of Unspeak, p. 52.