I just finished reading Chris Kohler's new book Retro Gaming Hacks and I have to say I enjoyed it a good deal. Topics range from how to run a variety of emulators on your PC to how to do introductory level programming for the GBA. While a lot of the information is rather basic, I learned a few things about older consoles and PCs from the book.

The writing in here is noticeably better than in Kohler's other book, Power Up!, though part of this might be because large portions of the book are written by other contributors. Kohler's writing is more confident and has a nice playful tone that is not unlike the style of writing done for this very site.

My favorite part of the book dealt with tutorials on how to create retro games using a variety of software packages, starting with the in-game editor for ZZT and moving on to other excellent DIY programs such as Adventure Game Studio and Game Maker.

It's worth a purchase, particularly for those wanting a gentle introduction to retro gaming.