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Jonathan S. Harbour

Goodreads Author

Born

in Sacramento, The United States

Website

http://jharbour.com

Twitter

JonVonGamer

Genre

Science Fiction, History, Fantasy

Influences

Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Blake Crouch, Cormac McCarthy, Leo Tols ...more

Member Since

April 2014

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jsharbour

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Hi, I'm Jon, and I love to read. At one time, I was heavily published in a niche branch of computer science: game development. The heaviest years were 2005-2010 when I was an associate prof. Back then, there were more STEM majors than there are today, so the market for heavy math game dev books dried up. The last revision I did was Beginning Game Programming, 4th Edition, in 2014. After that, I finally completed a novel, then a sequel, and self-published it. (In case you are curious) I earned $10,000 from Amazon over 2 years and then sales dropped to a dripping faucet. It was enough to join the SFWA (and then leave because it's a hive of Woke lunatics with an unhinged president). I don't put up with crazies or bullies: Tactical disengagemen Hi, I'm Jon, and I love to read. At one time, I was heavily published in a niche branch of computer science: game development. The heaviest years were 2005-2010 when I was an associate prof. Back then, there were more STEM majors than there are today, so the market for heavy math game dev books dried up. The last revision I did was Beginning Game Programming, 4th Edition, in 2014. After that, I finally completed a novel, then a sequel, and self-published it. (In case you are curious) I earned $10,000 from Amazon over 2 years and then sales dropped to a dripping faucet. It was enough to join the SFWA (and then leave because it's a hive of Woke lunatics with an unhinged president). I don't put up with crazies or bullies: Tactical disengagement.

But first, personality, because that affects my reviews and comments. Please pay attention before discussing issues with me (like Batman vs Superman), because I will school even my closest relatives and not even know I'm doing it. I will drop tacnukes on them and then think, crap, that's my daughter... That's an INTJ. I used to apologize for it. I feel like I need a card like the one carried by Arthur Fleck: [I'm an INTJ. I don't mean to, but I will destroy you if you engage me in a selfish argument or do something that I consider to be self-serving].

An Architect (INTJ) is a person with the Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging personality traits. These thoughtful tacticians love perfecting the details of life, applying creativity and rationality to everything they do. Their inner world is often a private, complex one.

It can be lonely at the top. Being one of the rarest personality types and being among the most capable people, Architects know this all too well. They make up just two percent of the population. It can be difficult for Architects to find people who can keep up with their non-stop analysis of things. People with this personality type are imaginative yet decisive... ambitious yet like their privacy... curious about everything but remain focused.

[https://www.16personalities.com/intj-...]

I've been struggling to devise a min/max system for reading the best books possible. You'd think that would be easy, right? Reviews? Except for one problem: when I give up on a book, it's very early on. If a book doesn't grab me in the first 50 pages, that's it for me, I move on. Then some friend recommends it and I forget that I've already... Well, you get the idea. I don't like to drop negative reviews on books I just don't like because I'm very, very particular, and generally disagree with a lot of my friends.

So, I've come up with a system of shelf labels to help me narrow down my TBRs and GUOs: shortlist-next-reads and not-interested, respectively. SNR is reserved for very, very special books that I've vetted and can safely pick any one of them up randomly and begin reading and KNOW I'll enjoy it. NI is self explanatory with this caveat: I usually don't review books that I've given up on (because that is one huge list and it may not be fair to those authors), unless it gets past my SNR/TBR barriers and was particularly bad.

[official]Jonathan S. Harbour holds a Master's in Information Systems, taught college computer science for many years, and has written extensively on game development. His best selling books are Beginning Game Programming, Visual Basic Game Programming for Teens, and Video Game Programming for Kids. He enjoys reading and video games (of course) and plays too much Stellaris.
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Jonathan S. Harbour’s books

Average rating: 3.87 · 372 ratings · 29 reviews · 28 distinct works

	Beginning Game Programming 3.68 avg rating — 44 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Game Programming All in One 3.81 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 2004 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Visual Basic Game Programming for Teens 3.78 avg rating — 27 ratings — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	More Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner 3.74 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beginning Java SE 6 Game Programming 3.95 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2006 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Advanced 2D Game Development 3.89 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 2008 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Video Game Programming for Kids 3.85 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2012 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sams Teach Yourself Android Game Programming in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself in 24 Hours) 3.92 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2012 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beginner's Guide to DarkBASIC Game Programming by Jonathan S. Harbour (Goodreads Author), Joshua Smith (Goodreads Author) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Programming the Nintendo Game Boy Advance: Revised 2nd Edition by Jonathan S. Harbour (Goodreads Author), John Romero (Foreword) 4.44 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jonathan S. Harbour's Blog: J.S. Harbour's Blog

1998

I’ve been thinking about 1998 a lot lately. I recently bought a ’98 BMW Z3 as a sort of next track car… sort of being that there’s not a great aftermarket for it so it might not be the best choice although I think it’s a good alternative to a Miata which I just am … Continue reading 1998

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Published on October 11, 2022 15:15

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Jonathan is Currently Reading

Jonathan is currently reading

The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

by Donald D. Hoffman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: philosophy, currently-reading

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Aug 15, 2024 10:41AM

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Brotherhood (Star Wars)

by Mike Chen (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: star-wars, currently-reading

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Black Fire

by Sonni Cooper

bookshelves: star-trek-tos, currently-reading

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Aug 02, 2024 10:11PM

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Jonathan entered a giveaway Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4) by Brandon Sanderson (Goodreads Author) 5 copies available, ends on September 30, 2024 Enter to win »
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Jonathan’s Quotes

“No one thought of anything but themselves. My happiness, my future was the only thing you heard. Real love is to offer your life at the feet of another, and that’s what people today are incapable of.”
― John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In

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“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
― Pablo Picasso

tags: art, attributed-no-source

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“I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.”
― Arthur C. Clarke

tags: extraterrestrials, humor, intelligent-life, life, science, universe

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“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

tags: albus-dumbledore, courage, friends

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“Women are amazing creatures-sweet, soft, gentle, and far more savage than we are.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

tags: women

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Jonathan’s Year In Books

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Jonathan S. Harbour

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Jonathan S. Harbour's Blog: J.S. Harbour's Blog

1998

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