Speccy Nation by Dan Whitehead - Book Review

The Sinclair Spectrum and its many variants are almost a national institution when it comes to the computing history of the UK. It was the little machine that could, from the company that at times really couldn't,* and despite being an Amstrad product for the latter half of its commercial existence, there is a nostalgia for the 8-bit wonder and the games that it hosted. This is where Dan Whitehead's 2012 tome, Speccy Nation, comes in.

It's a slim volume, coming in at just over 120 pages. There's no colour either but that really isn't an issue and there is something quite calming about poring over the mono screenshots. It means you can't see any colour clash for a start!

As you can see from the contents page, this is a bit of a love letter to the 8-bit legend, with the page layout following the format of BASIC commands. There's an foreword from Phil South before the introduction by the author. Here, he sets out why this book was written and what he hopes to achieve from it. Anyone familiar with that period of home computing in the UK will understand perfectly where he is coming from. 

Of course, it is the games that matter here, and the author covers fifty titles picked from the Spectrum's library of near two thousand (if that quick search is to be believed). The cataloguing of this small selection is quite neat too. The Classics features the likes of Jetpac, Manic Miner and Horace Goes Skiing, whilst The Pioneers allows Skool Daze, Dark Sceptre and the yet to be surpassed Deus Ex Machina to shine. The Greats puts the stone cold classics on display - Cybernoid, Jack the Nipper and Turbo Esprit to name but three. 

The Dark Horses covers those games that the author considers more interesting that you might imagine, and although I was primarily an Amstrad lad back in the day, I still remember playing How to be a Complete Bastard on a mate's +2 during the summer holidays. As for Death Wish 3, well, that could be an emulator job in the future. The final section for games is entitled Never Again, and covers mostly licensed games and "homages" to more famous names. Trashman, I was familiar with, and the idea of a game based on Give My Regards To Broad Street fills me with dread - the film was bad enough. 

What makes this little menagerie of games great fun to read is the author's approach. There is a great deal of appreciation for some of the titles and love, yes actual love, for the platform itself. These mini-reviews not only tell you what you need to know, but also the context where appropriate. Most games get a couple of pages, and there is even some cover art included too. 

The book ends with a further reading section, listing websites and resources if you want to know more, and the author's biography, with a couple of teasers for some of his other works, two movie-related titles that are going on the wish-list now.

Speccy Nation is a perfect introduction to the highs and low of gaming on the Spectrum. Well written, informative, and with a great sense of style, this is definitely a keeper. There is a follow up which is currently on my "to read" pile, so expect a review of that in due course. In the meantime, you can pick up a copy of volume 1 here, and follow the author on Twitter here. 

* If you've ever read much about Sinclair Computers, there always seems to be a number of common themes: late to market, supply problems, quality control issues (both hardware and software) and the outright prickly behaviour of Sir Clive.