Rusel DeMaria and Johnny L. Wilson, High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games. Berkeley, CA: McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2002. Well-illustrated book recounts the development of video games in the 1980s and 1990s.
Sean M. Grady, Virtual Reality: Simulating and Enhancing the World with Computers , 2nd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2003. Provides an overview of the development and technology of virtual reality and the ways VR is being used today.
Mark Pesce, The Playful World: How Technology Is Transforming Our Imagination. New York: Ballantine Books, 2000. Explains how three types of toys—interactive "pets" such as the Furby, a Lego robot-building kit, and video games—are related to the cutting-edge scientific fields of artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and virtual reality.
Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993. Describes the formation of an early virtual community, the WELL, and discusses the nature of communities in cyberspace.
Mary E. Behr, "Interview: Jaron Lanier, 'Virtual Reality' Inventor," ExtremeTech.com , February 11, 2002.
John C. Briggs, "Virtual Reality Is Getting Real: Prepare to Meet Your Clone," Futurist , May 2002.
Richard DeGrandpre, "Great Escape," Adbusters , March/April 2001.
Adi Ignatius, "We Have Contact," Time International , June 4, 2001.
Arlene Weintraub, "High Tech's Future Is in the Toy Chest," Business Week , August 26, 2002.
Peter Weiss, "Deep Vision: When Walls Become Doors into Virtual Worlds," Science News , June 1, 2002.
William Hunter, "The Dot Eaters," EmuUnlim.com, Lively history of video games and computer games.
NASA, "Virtual Astronaut Program," http://virtualastronaut.jsc.nasa.gov. For students in grades five through eight; provides virtual tour of the space station and related learning activities.
National Library of Medicine, "Visible Human Project," www.nlm.nih.gov. Describes the Visible Human Project, which divides a male and a female human body into extremely small "slices" made with imaging technology, for research and for the study of anatomy; provides samples, including video footage.
Randall Packer, Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality , ArtMuseum.net, Excellent history of multimedia and virtual reality, including profiles of pioneers in the field.
Virtual Reality Society, "History of VR," 1996. www.vrs.org.uk. Time line of events in the development of virtual reality through 1996.
Vivid Group, "The Vivid Group of Interactive Artists," www.vividgroup.com. Shows descriptions and short video clips of virtual reality art installations by Vincent John Vincent and Francis MacDougall.
VR Source, "All Things VR," www.vrsource.org. Includes news, reviews of software, forum postings, links, and more.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: