Jacob Geller: You're Not Overthinking It out next week
Lost In Cult is once again proud to collaborate with video essayist Jacob Geller on a second collection - and re-examination - of his work in a brand new book: You’re Not Overthinking It.
Returning to his extensive archive of video essays, this follow-up to How a Game Lives expands beyond essays exclusively about video games. In You’re Not Overthinking It, Jacob revisits to some his darker and more mature essays through the lens of art, politics, history and philosophy, thinking through and re-evaluating his work on everything from execution methods and our fear of the dark, to architecture designed for violence, infinity, and head transplants.
Accompanying Jacob’s annotated re-assessments of ten of his best video essays is brand new artwork and media, all specially commissioned for each essay. Much like its preceding volume, acclaimed guest writers have been enlisted to expand on conversations with additional afterwords. To name just a few - Jamie Loftus, author of Raw Dog, extends the discussion on ‘The Men Who Couldn't Stop Crying’, Mike Rugnetta, one of the progenitors of the modern video essay, writes about ‘Head Transplants and the Non-Existence of the Soul’, while Remy Siu, Creative Director of 1000xResist, joins us to talk about why ‘Nothing Ever Stops Existing’.
In addition, the brilliant Kilian Eng returns for our cover illustration, alongside brand new artwork from a slew of talented illustrators such as Dragan Bibin, Ollie Jones, Michael Deforge, Ze Burnay and more.
Finally, artist Richard Blake breaks things up with a 10-page comic, including a spectacular gatefold spread, on ‘The Shape of Infinity’, while Kaveh Akbar, author of Martyr!, kicks the book off with a foreword on why exactly You’re Not Overthinking It.
“On YouTube, it feels like the natural impulse is towards disposability,” Jacob told Lost In Cult. “Your work only matters as much as your last video, your view count either goes up or down. But this, here, is my push in the opposite direction.”
Regarding You’re Not Overthinking It’s departure from exclusively covering his games-related essays, Jacob said “A lot of what I’ve been most proud of on my YouTube channel, when it feels like I’m taking the biggest risks, is when I step outside my comfortable place in the gaming world.”
Looking beyond the screen, You’re Not Overthinking It is also a work of preservation. At Lost In Cult, we aim to not just celebrate games culture, but tangibly secure a record of it. In an era of digital ownership, where games and media are more transient than ever, we press pixel to paper to create a more permanent, personal document of the ephemeral.
On You’re Not Overthinking It, Jacob said “With this on your shelf, on my shelf, there will be some remnant of my work that’s maintained for the future.”
The pre-order campaign ends 16 November, 2025. We estimate shipping to begin in Q4 2026.