This volume is notable for the fact that I was going through a personal crisis with the Computer Game Developers' Conference, and was only marginally present for most of the twelvemonth covered by this issue. It shows; there are no truly brilliant essays in this collection. The best of the lot are "The March of Abstraction" and "Little Languages". Still, there are some worthy efforts here ("The Need for Speed"). My reading in linguistics was starting to pay off, but my anguish over the CGDC kept showing up in such essays as "Computer Games are Dead", "Advice to a Young...", "Power" and, of course, "Goodbye". While not as brilliant as Volume 8, these essays show a great deal of breadth.
Towards a Linguistic Approach to Game Design
We're Still Not Keeping up with the Hardware
Not Ready for Prime Time (Yet)
Reading Habits of the Rich and Famous
And now for something completely different...
Advice to a young and eager programmer
Algorithms are where you find them
Some Thoughts on the Role of Death
Book Review: Systems of Survival