The billion dollar video games industry had to start somewhere, and this is the hilarious, heartbreaking, inside story of how it all began and where it's all headed. And in the middle of it all there was a game hailed as the best ever written. It was called Deus Ex Machina. It was a creative triumph and it was a commercial disaster. Meet the pirates, the nerds, the innovators, the charlatans, the superstars, the winners, the sinners, the good, the bad and the downright ugly. A remarkable story revealed by the founder of the industry himself, with gut-wrenching honesty and merciless humor. If you ever wondered how computer gaming turned us all into willing slaves, you're about to find out in glorious style.

Deus Ex Machina - The Best Game You Never Played in Your Life

Computers & Technology

Croucher, Mel

Games & Strategy Guides

Acorn Books

Devil's Acre

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

This is a hands-on guide to discover how long you will live, what you’re worth and who gets what when you die. It takes you step by step through everything you need for a personal action plan, including your digital legacy, your will, your final years, your death, funeral, and all your last orders for after you’ve gone. Relax. Stop worrying. Here are the answers to sort out your online and real world affairs and solve all those life and death problems.  Last Orders covers everything clearly, simply and honestly. An essential read for everyone who is not immortal.

Last Orders

Business & Money

Personal Finance

AG Books

The Sam Coupe User's Guide (Retro Reproductions)

The SAM Coupé was an 8-bit British home computer first released in late 1989. Designed to offer backwards compatibility with the ZX Spectrum, it was marketed as a logical upgrade for owners of the much-loved range of Sinclair machines. Originally manufactured by Miles Gordon Technology, the SAM Coupé promised a great deal. Sadly, however, it was not a financial success due to a lack of commercial software and tough competition from the faster 16-bit processors of its rivals. This 30th Anniversary Edition User's Guide features a new foreword from Mel Croucher, the original author. The manual is Illustrated throughout by Robin Evans, his memorable creation Sam the Robot always on hand to help users get the most out of their wonder machine. Offered as both a collector's piece and a valuable resource for lucky owners of a SAM Coupé today, we are excited to bring this slice of computing history back to life for the first time in thirty years.

This is the unexpurgated, hilarious and unflinching history of computers, of the lunatics who create them and of the idiots who use them, retold in cartoon form by Mel Croucher and Robin Evans. Great Moments In Computing was the longest-running, most widely read and best loved computer cartoon strip in the world and this unique collection contains every single episode... including unpublished and previously censored versions, five entirely new strips commissioned to bring the series to a close, and behind-the-scenes secrets of how it all really happened. The series began when strip one ran in 1988 in the monthly magazine Computer Shopper from Dennis Publishing; the periodical ceased publication in 2021 with the 395th episode. Here at Acorn Books, we couldn't leave the series unfinished and so commissioned Mel and Robin to create the final five episodes to see the series reach the magic 400 mark, coming to a natural conclusion. These episodes - along with much more - can only be seen in this complete, expanded, final FINAL edition!

Great Moments in Computing - The Complete Edition: The Complete Collection of Comic Strips

Comics & Graphic Novels

Comic Strips

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Croucher, Mel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Croucher, Mel