Magister Ludi [Mass Market Paperback]

Hermann Hesse (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (June 1, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553262378
• ISBN-13: 978-0553262377
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) was born in Germany and later became a citizen of Switzerland. As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote many novels, stories, and essays that bear a vital spiritual force that has captured the imagination and loyalty of many generations of readers. In 1946, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Glass Bead Game.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, March 14, 2000

By 

Enantiodromos "enantiodromos" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magister Ludi (Mass Market Paperback)

This book, so it's been suggested, is in part Hesse's response to the misunderstanding of his previous book, Steppenwolf. It is a brilliant exploration of themes of institutions and loyalty to them, and of personal excellence and humility. It is also in many ways an indictment against anti-intellectual popular culture, and in this sense the book is absolutely visionary. The titular subject of the book, the Glass Bead Game, is, furthermore, a dazzling invention of an almost surreal character. Finally, the book is tied together by several compelling, intricate characters. Magister Ludi is at the very pinnacle of my favorite books list.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unio Mystica as Ultimate Purpose, January 21, 2006

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Magister Ludi (Mass Market Paperback)

_What is the Glass Bead Game? It is no less than the highest reason that an entire future civilization exists. It is the grand and ongoing synthesis of all knowledge into a unified, integrated whole (a Unio Mystica.) It is an attempt to forge a holographic intellectual world where all is interconnected and reflected in every part. This is a mission to weave the golden thread of significance and meaning through every part of a culture- science and the arts and the spiritual are all unified into a system of concentric, interpenetrating rings. All this is primarily accomplished by using the language of music and mathematics as common universal symbolism (the "glass beads" are part of a symbolic physical aid that was once used for this purpose.)

_It is no wonder that the book places the first origins of the game with Pythagoras, Gnostics, and Socratic ethics. No wonder that the League of Journeyers to the East also figure prominently in its development. To some extent the Game has been the goal of all sensitive and introspective individuals and groups down through the ages.

_All of this stands in stark contrast to our own Feuilletonistic Age where all knowledge, all culture, is unsynthesized, chaotic, and largely meaningless babble.

_The crisis that develops from this is that even if you accomplish this grand synthesis in some isolated ivory tower refuge of intellectual contemplatives- it isn't enough. It is necessary to reach out to the entire society once it is achieved in the same way that a bodhisattva attempts to enlighten the rest of mankind instead of individually passing onto Nirvana. The entire society must be made whole and sacred and not just an isolated elite. This is the realization that comes even to the Magister Ludi, the Master of the Game.

_For the game to be ultimately meaningful we have to coach everyone to eventually become Masters.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever read, March 27, 2002

By 

F. Houston Galloway (Brookline, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magister Ludi (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the best book I have ever read. It is fantastically engaging and has a surprise ending. Hesse never really explains the Game to a point that the reader must construct his own version of what the Game is like. The Game uses beads that represent high information density symbols, somewhat like advanced mathmatics, to show connections between fields of study or disiplines that have interconnections that are not immediately obvious. The Game imbodies the ultimate "life of the Mind" and to study the Game is a truly life long adventure. Ludi becomes the Magister, or top player, of the Game and greatly admired.