Yes, this book is more accessible to general audiences than his first, but I can't imagine someone truly just reading this for pleasure. Still, I thought people might like to see some of the stuff going on in game studies. Occasionally, I'll hear from an aspiring student of the subject.

I formerly liked to rant about the unnecessary complexity in stuff like this. They always like to show off their knowledge of esoteric thinkers like Derrida and Deleuze/Guittari, folks whose inscrutable writings are of interest to very few people outside of humanities departments (and even there the appeal is limited). I did my time with them in PhD school and like most everyone else who went through that experience, you hate to "waste" all of it by not dropping it in to relevant discussions. I basically see it as a way for people to feel educated and more academic, but the practical value is questionable at best. Then again, it's not surprising considering that it wasn't that long ago when all universities taught strictly in Latin, a dead language.

One thing that I find silly is that so much of this stuff is based on Karl Marx, who was pretty good at popularizing his own ideas in accessible form. Precious few who have followed him have bothered to do that. They've stopped writing for the masses and now just write for each other.