Minecraft and Markus 'Notch' Persson book out Nov 5, film to begin production this year

A full-length book about Minecraft and its creator titled Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus "Notch" Persson and the Game that Changed Everything will be published by Seven Stories Press on Nov. 5. Film rights to the book have been sold and film production will begin this year, the publisher announced.

The book is authored by Swedish freelance technology journalists Linus Larsson and Daniel Goldberg and is based on their interviews and investigations on Minecraft and Persson. Translated by Jennifer Hawkins, the soon-to-be published work "tells the Cinderella story of Notch's journey from shy programmer misfit to multi-millionaire tech visionary" and will look at the gaming landscape in Sweden and worldwide over the past decade.

"From his early days playing with Legos and his first forays into programming with his father on a Commodore 128 computer, Markus Persson knew that all he wanted to do was create games," reads the press release. "Here he recalls his childhood of isolation and growing up in a family marked by drug abuse and conflict. His is a story of unlikely success, fast money, and the power of digital technology to rattle an empire."

Seven Stories is working with Minecraft developer Mojang to crowd-source screenshots of Minecraft user-generated creations to use in the full-color photo insert in the book.

Copies of the book can be pre-ordered from the Seven Stories Press website for $16.46. People who purchase one of the first three hundred copies will have their book signed by the authors.

The authors will attended the fourth annual Minecraft convention, MineCon, this Fall in a yet to be announced U.S. city to sign copies of the book. They will then do a book tour to Chicago and New York.