Lost in a Good Game - An Evening with Pete Etchells

Waterstones TCR are delighted to welcome Dr Pete Etchells to talk about his new book, Lost in a Good Game, and his fascinating research into the behavioural effects of playing video games, hosted by science journalist Alok Jha.

When Pete Etchells was 14, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened.

Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify `game addiction' as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea.

In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games - from Turing's chess machine to mass multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft- via scientific study, to investigate the highs and lows of playing and get to the bottom of our relationship with games - why we do it, and what they really mean to us.

At the same time, Lost in a Good Game is a very unusual memoir of a writer coming to terms with his grief via virtual worlds, as he tries to work out what area of popular culture we should classify games (a relatively new technology) under.

The evening will include a chat between Alok and Pete about Lost in a Good Game, an opportunity for audience questions, and a book signing.

Dr Pete Etchells is a reader in psychology and science communication at at Bath Spa University. His research interests include the behavioural effects of playing video games, as well as science policy and public communication of science.

Alok Jha is science and technology correspondent at The Economist and author of The Water Book. Previously he was a Wellcome Trust fellow and has also worked at ITV News, the Guardian and the BBC.