"The Cavern of Doom is resolutely single-threaded, with a spine of near-universally travelled choices seen in the thick arcs moving left to right. Notably there is only a single choice (both in this view and in the entire book) that goes back to an earlier page. This can be seen in the lone arc below the pages moving from right to left. It is either ironic or telling that this linear structure comes from the book written by a talented computer programmer. Perhaps knowing how to deal with the complicated makes you appreciate the simple." - ⓞnor

"In a computer game, ... the program itself can keep a running tally of items you’ve encountered and possibly picked up. In a book this responsibility falls to the reader, and with it an expectation of honesty. To encourage a degree of fair play, the Cavern of Doom engages in a form of entrapment by asking the reader, in the midst of a dicy situation, whether they have a magic item that would clearly save the day. What the book knows and the reader may not is that this item does not even exist." - ⓞnor

I usually read CYOA books straight through, front to back. - Jim Norris

And I keep translating CYOA as "Cover Your Own Ass." - Jim Norris

Their Flash version of the Zork book won't let me do that. (Good thing they didn't adapt UFO 54-40.) One thing this essay doesn't mention is the generally awful quality of the writing in these books. The FAQ at one major gamebook reference site -- gamebooks.org -- answers "What's your favorite gamebook" with "Well, the truth of the matter is that I don't think many gamebooks are all that good". (It goes on to recommend one exception, which I'm now tempted to read. Or play. Whatever it's called.) - ⓞnor

The Pip series was not terrible... I remember it was amusing, at any rate. - Andrew C (see frenf.it)

Pip series? I just ordered a copy of _Ocean of Lard_. (Also, _Life's Lottery_.) - ⓞnor

(googled) Ah, it's actually the Grailquest series. The player character was called Pip. - Andrew C (see frenf.it)