About this item
Pinball's history is America's history, from gambling and war-themed machines to the arcade revolution and, ultimately, the decline of the need to leave your house. The strangest thing about pinball is that it persists, and not just as nostalgia. Pinball didn't just stick around - it grew and continues to evolve with the times. Somehow, in today's iPhone world, a three-hundred-pound monstrosity of wood and cables has survived to enjoy yet another renaissance. Pinball is more to humor writer Adam Ruben than a fascinating book topic - it's a lifelong obsession. Ruben played competitive pinball for years, rising as high as the 80th-ranked player in the world. Then he had children. Now, mired in 9,938th place - darn kids - Ruben tries to stage a comeback, visiting pinball museums, gaming conventions, pinball machine designers, and even pinball factories in his attempt to discover what makes the world's best players, the real wizards, so good.
About the Author
Adam Ruben spent seven years at Johns Hopkins University earning his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. While there, he parlayed his healthy disdain for academia into a stand-up comedy act, which he has performed across the country, recently opening for Dane Cook's Tourgasm at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. and earning second place in the Funniest Jewish Comic Contest at the Laugh Factory in Times Square. For six years, Adam has taught an undergraduate stand-up comedy class that has quickly become one of the most popular January "Intersession" courses at Johns Hopkins University. He has written humor pieces for The National Lampoon and appeared weekly on the Food Network's "Food Detectives" with Ted Allen.
