It's All in the Playing [Hardcover]

Shirley Maclaine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1987

The fifth volume in one of the most extraordinary  personal odysseys of the twentieth century.  Don't Fall Off the Mountain,  You Can Get There From Here, Out on a Limb, Dancing in the Light and now the most intimate and compelling  book of all, It's All in the Playing. Oscar-winning actress, social activist, singular  entertainer, best-selling author Shirley MacLaine  has the courage to be both candid and  controversial. In this book, she casts herself in her most  challenging role yet--as seeker of personal and  metaphysical truth. It began in Peru ten years ago and  ended in Peru ten years later. But the steps along  the way were the real story. In filming the  miniseries Out on a Limb,  Shirley MacLaine was forced to recreate herself ten  years earlier. to journey back from Malibu to London,  from Sweden to the mysterious landscape of Peru...  to the places, the perceptions and profound  emotions she experienced then. And to journey beyond,  exploring new personal and cosmic dimensions, the  choices of her lifetimes, who she was and who she  would become. As the heart of Shirley MacLaine's  testament is a compelling challenge: we choose our  own destinies, create our own illusions. We have the  power to design the world in which we live, and  the strength to remake ourselves in the image of our  dreams.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The fifth volume in one of the most extraordinary personal odysseys of the twentieth century. Don't Fall Off The Mountain, You Can Get There From Here, Out On A Limb, Dancing In The Light and now the most intimate and compelling book of all, It's All In The Playing. Oscar-winning actress, social activist, singular entertainer, best-selling author Shirley MacLaine has the courage to be both candid and controversial. In this book, she casts herself in her most challenging role yet--as seeker of personal and metaphysical truth. It began in Peru ten years ago and ended in Peru ten years later. But the steps along the way were the real story. In filming the miniseries Out On A Limb, Shirley MacLaine was forced to recreate herself ten years earlier. to journey back from Malibu to London, from Sweden to the mysterious landscape of Peru... to the places, the perceptions and profound emotions she experienced then. And to journey beyond, exploring new personal and cosmic dimensions, the choices of her lifetimes, who she was and who she would become. As the heart of Shirley MacLaine's testament is a compelling challenge: we choose our own destinies, create our own illusions. We have the power to design the world in which we live, and the strength to remake ourselves in the image of our dreams. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

The fifth volume in one of the most extraordinary  personal odysseys of the twentieth century.  Don't Fall Off the Mountain,  You Can Get There From Here, Out on a Limb, Dancing in the Light and now the most intimate and compelling  book of all, It's All in the Playing. Oscar-winning actress, social activist, singular  entertainer, best-selling author Shirley MacLaine  has the courage to be both candid and  controversial. In this book, she casts herself in her most  challenging role yet--as seeker of personal and  metaphysical truth. It began in Peru ten years ago and  ended in Peru ten years later. But the steps along  the way were the real story. In filming the  miniseries Out on a Limb,  Shirley MacLaine was forced to recreate herself ten  years earlier. to journey back from Malibu to London,  from Sweden to the mysterious landscape of Peru...  to the places, the perceptions and profound  emotions she experienced then. And to journey beyond,  exploring new personal and cosmic dimensions, the  choices of her lifetimes, who she was and who she  would become. As the heart of Shirley MacLaine's  testament is a compelling challenge: we choose our  own destinies, create our own illusions. We have the  power to design the world in which we live, and  the strength to remake ourselves in the image of our  dreams. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1st ed edition (August 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553052179
• ISBN-13: 978-0553052176
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shirley MacLaine, Oscar winner, three-time Emmy winner, and ten-time Golden Globe winner, has appeared in more than fifty films, has been nominated for an Academy Award six times, and received the Oscar for Best Actress in 1984. A longtime outspoken advocate for civil rights and liberties, women¹s rights, and spiritual understanding, Shirley MacLaine has sold more than 20,000,000 copies of her nine international bestsellers, which include her acclaimed work The Camino.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provokes thought...OUT ON A LIMB is better though., September 1, 2004

By 

Long Island, East, member (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's All In The Playing (Paperback)

Shirley MacLaine writes about cohesion in our world. What do you believe and how did you truly come to believe in that? She
doesn't target religions but does inject insight into a notion
some find upsetting: God is everywhere, God is in you, a power of change for your life is also in you. I enjoy her books and hope
to see more. But my favorite is OUT ON A LIMB when Shirley shares her unsettling discoveries, discusses Jesus Christ and the missing 18-years from when he was 12-30---a time period deliberately remove from the original bible text. She challenges others to think and test what you believe in a real perspective.
Terrific!

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars exploring metaphysics, March 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: It's All In The Playing (Paperback)

Shirley Maclaine has proved herself not only to be a very good actress, but writer as well. She is very insightful and obviously intelligent. For those exploring the metaphysical realm, I would highly recommend her books.

5 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Perturbing View of Life, March 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: It's All In The Playing (Paperback)

This kind of modern day thinking is mighty scary and I am sad that Shirley MacLaine promotes such foolishness. Ms. MacLaine likens life to a play and believes we ALL pick our parts and others are just characters in our play and besides, they PICKED their part too! Why is it people who have money, fame and relatively good luck fall for this? Why never starving victims of war or horribly abused women in Saudi Arabia? This line of thinking also apparently justifies whatever you choose to do in your life as it is merely for the experience and quite eliminates the need for much of a conscience. After all, if you decide to hurt someone, it was chosen in THEIR life script as well. Psychic types often promote this viewpoint. They claim a person who has been murdered was really a willing participant, as they actually wanted to leave this world. Scary concepts that psychopaths buy right into for their justifications. Does Ms. MacLaine really understand what she is encouraging? Pat Brown/Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler/The Sexual Homicide Exchange, Inc.