This author says Minecraft helps prepare kids for our world
By Andrew Limbong|Manuela López Restrepo
Life is like a video game now, says author Max Brooks — it's constantly updating. Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption
toggle caption Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesLife is like a video game now, says author Max Brooks — it's constantly updating.
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesA new kids book out this week tackles big, serious themes about war, liberty, security — even the purpose of a nation. It's called .
It's author says Minecraft — yes, the video game — is a great vehicle for teaching life lessons.
Who is he? Author Max Brooks is best known for his meticulously researched guides on the zombie apocalypse and Bigfoot.
- His work has led to a position at the Modern War Institute at West Point, where he speaks to the military about preparedness.
On using the structure of technology to teach life lessons:
When I was coming up, big revolutionary changes in technology or in economics or politics — that happened maybe once in a generation. As a Gen X-er, the movie [for our generation]was . And in it, Ethan Hawke goes off on this rant about, like, "What am I supposed to do? Get a job at a factory like my dad for 20 years?" And now we think, like, no, dude, you'd be lucky to get that job.
So change is going to be the constant. So literally, nowadays, life is a video game that's constantly updating, and you're going to have to update with it.
How'd he arrive here?
- Growing up, Brooks struggled in school with dyslexia. And his mother, the famous actor Anne Bancroft, quit acting to help him get through school. She taught him that problems are a lot less scary if you are prepared — true both in our world and in Minecraft.
- is out now.
Learn more:
