JEDDAH: Syrian poet and writer Fadi Azzam’s novel “Huddud’s House,” poignantly translated by Ghada Alatrash, paints a kaleidoscope of Damascene life, from its artists and lovers to its doctors and politicians, during its recent period of great turmoil and destruction.
Beginning at the cusp of the Arab revolution and civil war in Syria, the novel is an epic that delves into the depths and dark pits of the human heart. It is a searing depiction of humans’ capacity to love in all forms, resist and grow, as well as their power to destroy, oppress, and wage war.
Among its central characters is Fadi or Fidel Al-Abdullah, a law student, artist, womanizer, famous filmmaker, or religious extremist — depending on which part of his story you’re reading. His character arc is a prominent thread in the novel’s theme of identity and exile, capturing the nature of identity as perpetually in flux.His married lover, Layl, a doctor, is a complex portrayal of a woman torn between desire and duty.
Anees, a heart surgeon in Britain, sees his life take a swift turn when a phone call beckons him to the homeland. In Damascus, he inherits his grandfather’s property, Huddud’s House, initially poised as a promising windfall.
But the ancient house itself, and the locals who care about its heritage and cultural significance, help the doctor uncover its treasures and secrets such as historical artifacts and documents about Syria and her people painstakingly penned by its former guardians.
In the story, Huddud’s House stands as a powerful symbol of Syrian resistance and perseverance against oppression: “This was the fortieth time that this house encountered destruction, but its history testifies that each time it returned greater than before,” reads an excerpt. 
“Huddud’s House” is an emotionally fraught and sweeping story of human connection during war, as well as a harrowing testimony partially based on true accounts of the brutalities endured by the Syrian people during the great upheaval of their homeland.
Azzam’s novel cements storytelling’s pivotal role in preserving truth, history, and heritage.
And at the heart of this particular story is a powerful idea: To love  is to resist.

Author: Dan Ackerman

In the 2016 book, “The Tetris Effect: The Game that Hypnotized the World,” author Dan Ackerman, a radio DJ turned tech journalist, assembles pieces of a fragmented narrative into a neat, fast-paced story.

Each chapter is almost like a tetromino (a single Tetris piece). The story is layered, technical, nerdy and a tiny bit quirky.

Perhaps the most recognizable video game yet made, Tetris has a definitive story all its own. Ackerman, who is an editor at leading technology news website CNET, brought that animation to life.

In the chapter “Bonus Level, Tetris into Infinity,” Ackerman asks: “Is it possible to ‘win’ a game of Tetris? The idea of what constitutes a winning state is an ongoing source of debate among game theorists.”

Ackerman walks us through what the mathematicians say, discussing among other things the limitations of the Z shape in the classic Tetris game.

He asks: “An attentive player with lightning-fast reflexes could easily keep the game going for a very long time, but based on the rules established above, is it possible to continue forever?”

It’s a good question.

If you have been alive during the past four decades, you will have most likely played it yourself or know someone who has. The book deemed it to be “a game so great, even the Cold War couldn’t stop it.”

But how did that come to be? Why?

The book considers a question many have been wondering: How did a quiet, obscure Soviet software engineer create the game on, even at the time, antiquated computers in 1984? And how is it still so popular 40 years later?

Tetris earnings have exceeded $1 billion in sales, the book states, and peppered within its pages, readers will notice additional facts scattered around to make it even more interesting. One such fact states: “Guinness World Records, recognizes Tetris as being the ‘most-ported’ game in history. It appears on more than 65 different platforms.”

Another reads: “The Nintendo World store in New York has on display a Game Boy handheld that was badly burned in a 1990s Gulf War bombing. It is still powered on and playing Tetris.”

That Russian programmer, Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov, did not change the world, but he did change how we interact with it, by creating that game. Pajitnov was 28 when he developed Tetris in Moscow. Now 68, he is still a significant figure in the gaming world. While he did not initially receive any royalties due to strict Soviet laws at the time, he later got what was owed to him when he formed The Tetris Company in 1996 to manage the licensing rights for the game.