The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living [Paperback]

Pat Kane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

The Play Ethic explores the real meaning of play and shows how a more playful society would revolutionize and liberate our daily lives. Using wide and varied sources from the Enlightenment to Eminem, Socrates to Chaos theory, Kierkegaard to Karaoke, this book shows how play is fundamental to both society and to the individual, and how the work ethic that has dominated the last three centuries is ill-equipped to deal with the modern world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kane's [manifesto]... is a brave attempt to inject a little playfulness... into the dull grind of the working stiff. -- Iain Finlayson, The Times --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

We all think we know what play is. Play is what we do as children, what we do outside of work, what we do for no other reason than for pleasure. But this is only half of the truth. The Play Ethic explores the real meaning of play and shows how a more playful society would revolutionize and liberate our daily lives.

Using wide and varied sources—from the Enlightenment to Eminem, Socrates to Chaos theory, Kierkegaard to Karaoke—The Play Ethic shows how play is fundamental to both society and to the individual, and how the work ethic that has dominated the last three centuries is ill-equipped to deal with the modern world. With verve, wit and intelligence, Pat Kane takes us on a tour of the playful world arguing that without it business, the arts, politics, education, even our family and spiritual lives are fundamentally impoverished.

The Play Ethic seeks to change the way you look at your daily life, how you interact with others, how you view the world. It is a guidebook to new, exciting—and unsettling—times. Shocking, controversial, yet magnificently argued, The Play Ethic is a book no one who works, or has ever worked, can afford to be without. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan UK (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333907361
• ISBN-13: 978-0333907368
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,044,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)