Book Reviews 85 gious exiles, many of whom went north to the more tolerant environs of Leiden and other Dutch Republic towns. Cruz points out that from 1570 to 1630, Leiden attracted more immigrant printers per capita than any other Dutch town. In the chapter “The Academy Printers,” Cruz reasonably speculates that part of the appeal of Leiden for those involved in the book trades would have been the prestige of the university. Beginning in 1577, the university decided to appoint an official “printer for the Academy.” The first of these, Willem Silvius, was recruited from Antwerp. His tenure was brief: he died in 1580 in a state of debt, despite the rather generous terms provided by the university. The university next sought out Christoffel Plantijn himself, who agreed to relocate to Leiden and began serving in the post in 1583. Plantin, however, remained Catholic and soon returned to Antwerp, after printing about 30 books during his Leiden tenure. The rest of this chapter is an interesting depiction of the intersection of printers, scholars, and libraries of Leiden, more concrete and particular than some of the more speculative and table-heavy chapters that follow, and more likely to appeal to those readers with an interest in book history rather than economic theory. Cruz points out that Leiden was home to the innovation of the book auction catalog, and of advertising upcoming auctions both locally and abroad in newspapers and by distribution of the book auction catalogs themselves. The earliest definitely recorded book auction was performed in Leiden in 1599 by Louis Elsevier, paterfamilias of the famous publishing house. Cruz sees these book auctions and their catalogs as examples of a Dutch “microinventions”: that is to say small, clever innovations that could lead to a competitive advantage. The remaining portions of the book survey the relative economic status of various subsets of the book trade (bind- ers, printers, booksellers, and the like) by examining tax records, both internally within Leiden and in comparison to other Dutch towns. Cruz also examines the changing demands of the marketplace. As the merchant classes became more affluent and literate, there was a propor- tional rise in the printing of books in the vernacular, and a spreading prolifera- tion of casual forms of literature such as newspapers. Attention must be drawn to some edito- rial and design problems. The tables are, with one exception, built upon the same template of difficult-to-read grids regard- less of the information they convey. Worse, they are often severely underexplained and confusing, both in themselves and within the accompanying text (or lack thereof). The book also has a noticeably sloppier than usual occurrence of missing or misspelled words, and of other little mistakes and anomalies such as the Chris- toper/Christoffel issue mentioned above, and the incorrect founding date of 1576 for Leiden Leiden University cited on page 78. More inexplicable and less forgivable, particularly in a book about books, is the absence of proper citations for many of the illustrations, and the incorrect or in- adequate descriptions given of the same. For example, the source and date of the portrait engraving of printer Franciscus Raphelengius reproduced on page 82 is not listed, only the name of the library that provided it. A title page of an auction catalog depicted on page 145 is strangely described as “Printed Auction Catalogue (inside).” On page 221 a double-page spread of a frontispiece and title page is called “Example of Frontispiece printed by Elseviers.” The Paradox of Prosperity is a book of rather specialized appeal. While some of Cruz’s arguments lack the clarity conducive to epiphany, it is a detailed work of research with many components of interest.—Scott Krafft, Northwestern University. Beth Gallaway. Game On! Gaming at the Library. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2009. 306p. alk. paper, $55 (ISBN 9781555705954). LC2009-014110. 86 College & Research Libraries January 2010 Beth Gallaway has put together a well- rounded reference resource on gaming at libraries. Although this book is geared toward public libraries, it is applicable to academic and special libraries as well. This is an excellent book for those who have anything to do with gaming and li- braries, whether hosting gaming sessions at a library, providing reference service to gamers, creating and managing a game collection, or just trying to figure out what gaming is all about. The six chapters in this book are cleverly titled as if progressing though a game, such as “Level One: The Backstory—Video Game Basics.” Each chapter builds upon itself with basic information and terminol- ogy presented earlier and more advanced topics covered later. Playable games are offered at the end of each chapter as a way to review content, such as a crossword puzzle, trivia game, and word scramble game. Images of gaming magazines and game covers are appropriately sprinkled throughout the text, as well as screenshots of games in action, and sidenote boxes with additional information. There are also adequate bibliographies after each chapter. Chapter one provides a good history of video games, from how storytelling met computer games to modern professional gaming competitions. Chapter two out- lines common issues surrounding video games, such as psychological and physi- cal effects, learning and literacy, and game rating systems. Chapter three focuses on how libraries can support gamers, and delves into library-specific issues (such as banning games, behavioral problems, and security concerns). Chapter four serves as the “to-do list” of a successful gaming program (including marketing, staff involvement, game setup, evaluation forms, and best practices). Chapters five and six cover collection development and game industry trends. Some chapters have “strategy guides” that are essentially separate appendices, which pragmatically keeps relevant materials together. Each strategy guide provides useful information: recom- mended gaming-related literature (such as books and magazines); online resource guides (for instance, cheat codes, blogs, and organizations); forms and flyers for gaming programs (examples: surveys, floor plans, tournament charts, permis- sion slips); and recommended gaming collections by platform (like PC, Xbox, Wii, and PlayStation). This book includes a short but ade- quate glossary for commonly used words, a fairly thorough index, and an annotated bibliography that is split into books and articles. The author has also made some resources available to download on her Web site (http://informationgoddess. info/). Beth Gallaway runs her own indepen- dent consulting business called Infor- mation Goddess. She provides training and consulting on gaming technology for youth services at public and school libraries. She has numerous publica- tions and presentations about games and libraries, and is an avid gamer; many examples and images within this book are from her own gaming experi- ences. One challenge of writing on this genre is how fast the technology changes. Games that are currently played become dated, and similarly books like these tend to become obsolete. However, this book provides a variety of information that goes beyond the technology and games; it will likely remain useful as a reference for years to come. If this reviewer were to make one suggestion for this book, it would be to flesh out the controversies surrounding gaming within the library. Overall, this book provides a wonderful overview of gaming, especially in relation to librar- ies.—John Repplinger, Willamette Univer- sity, Salem, Oregon.