Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers, and Filmmakers by Michael Kilman

Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers, and Filmmakers Reviews

• 
  Josiah

  A flawed and meandering Anthropology introduction. Ostensibly for fiction writers and worldbuilders, most worldbuilders would probably be better served by a straight up Anthropology textbook as that will be more informative and the crossover is pretty much self-explanatory.
  
  The book itself is poorly formatted, in need of editing to tie it into a more cohesive whole, and could have used some sort of final chapter instead of ending abruptly.
  
  That said, a handful of chapters were quite good and helpful for thinking about the issues. I thought the chapters on language, gender vs sex, religion, and warfare - plus overall attitude to the supernatural - were interesting and worth giving an additional star for. It also did a nice job of approaching magic and ritual in an interesting way.
• 
  Scott Kinkade

  Just what I needed!
  
  This is a fantastic resource for creating fictional worlds. You’ll learn the ins and outs of how cultures work and how people operate. This book has inspired me to create my own fantasy epic.
• 
  Christopher

  This book is not just for writers! Ever wondered why some films or TV shows send you into super-fan mode? Want to know why you that rich video game or RPG has you completely wide eyed and gobsmacked? Why you can't get enough of books like The Expanse? Kilman and Wellstrom show you why. If you have an interest in stories, or missed the chance to take an anthropology class in college/university, this is going to ignite your mind and amplify your appreciation for storytellers of every kind. If you're a student struggling through an anthro class, this will simply blow your mind and drop you in.
  
  For writers and authors: This is the must-read, must-have work on world-builds. Thoroughly considered, deep-diving, practical, "Build Better Worlds" employs a unique comprehensive guide with solid science and contemporary considerations by an exceptional pair of experts that every writer needs to ensure their worlds are rich enough to meet the sophisticated demands of modern readers and audiences. Applying the concepts and depth of this book, your work could easily rank alongside rich world-build masters such as Kim Stanley Robinson, Elliot Kay, and James SA Corey.
• 
  Shane

  Build Better Worlds is an excellent primer on creating great places, big and small, in fiction, whether roleplaying or computer games, novels, or whatever else. Making a living, breathing world is a challenge and a worthy endeavor for any author. A necessary one if readers are going to enjoy a work of fiction fully. And this book is an excellent reference on how to do that. Erudite but engaging, complete but not overwhelming, any author or budding author can learn a lot from this book.
  
  My only criticism is it's a bit too much, meaning there are TOO MANY suggestions here. My advice would be to read through the whole thing, think about how each chapter fits your work, at least sketch out ideas on all of them (all twenty-two), then pick a handful as the framework on which to build the world. In my opinion, trying to hit all twenty-two world-building dimensions would just be too much.
  
  It is highly recommended for authors, game masters, and storytellers everywhere.
• 
  Doreen

  Build Better Worlds is a very readable and entertaining introduction to anthropological concepts with the goal of helping writers develop rich, holistic, and internally logical cultures. It’s basically Anthro 101 for aspiring sci-fi and fantasy authors, covering the most important facets of human existence across cultures, with a set of questions at the end of each chapter to stimulate self-reflection regarding the fictional world one is building. I enjoyed reading it and learned a lot.
  
  However, I have two gripes with the book. One is the usual: stylistic, grammatical, and typographical errors are common and could be amended for a second edition (I noticed many orphans and widows as well as a few malapropisms).
  
  The second has more to do with the focus of the work. There are long sections explaining complex processes that are very interesting but probably irrelevant to an author’s world-building (I’m thinking particularly of the long section on genetics in chapter 4). Maybe, for the next edition, it would be beneficial to collaborate with a creative writing or literature expert to shape individual chapters so they become truly useful to authors of speculative fiction. Instead of learning about historical or scientific processes at length, readers might benefit from a greater focus on the variety of possible configurations of human existence, from longer catalogues of possibilities, and from further examples from across the world’s cultures and literatures. All these might inspire writers to think outside the box and imagine new connections. Part of the book already does this: The second half of Build Better Worlds has many references to different cultures and literary works (most of them Anglophone, though, and from famous sci-fi, dystopian, and fantasy genres), and it seems to me that the book could be more strongly hybridized this way. There is also a lot of room for references to non-Western fantasy and sci-fi works. Lastly, I noticed that there is an almost complete absence of literary terms (apart from “plot” and “protagonist”). Collaboration with an expert in literature/fiction writing might turn this already very rich overview of human cultures into a must-read world-building manual for creative writers and game developers.