Under the title The Fall and Rise of Video Games, the American (video) console fan Leonard Herman published a chronology of the video game hobby.

A few weeks ago, Herman delivered the actual (printed) and improved second edition of his book: From the beginnings with primitive ball & paddle Pong consoles, past  hardware by Atari, CBS and Nintendo and up into the 64-bit timeframe, Herman guides you through 20 years of video game history. No exotic console or unusual accessory escaped his eye, every important legal fight between Atari, Nintendo & Co. (others) is sketched briefly in Phoenix.

Phoenix is a pedantic recounting of all developments which really clarifies for you the commercial, marketing and legal context. Unfortunately, the human (element) gets rather short shrift by Herman: Outside of several prominent exceptions, game designers and programmer play hardly any role in Phoenix.