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Play Anything
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Play Matters
- By: Miguel Sicart
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What do we think about when we think about play? A pastime? Games? Childish activities? The opposite of work? Think again: If we are happy and well rested, we may approach even our daily tasks in a playful way, taking the attitude of play without the activity of play. So what, then, is play? In Play Matters, Miguel Sicart argues that to play is to be in the world; playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and a way of engaging with others. Play goes beyond games; it is a mode of being human.
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Indistractable
- How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
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In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Total waste of time (and credit)
- By Amazon Customer on 26-08-19
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The State of Play
- Sixteen Voices of Video Games
- By: Linus Larsson, Daniel Goldberg
- Narrated by: Zachary Webber, Alex Hyde-White, Tonya Cornilesse, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story4 out of 5 stars 8
The State of Play is a call to consider the high stakes of video game culture and how our digital and real lives collide. Here, video games are not hobbies or pure recreation; they are vehicles for art, sex, and race and class politics. The 16 contributors are entrenched - they are the video game creators themselves, media critics, and Internet celebrities. They share one thing: They are all players at heart, handpicked to form a superstar roster by Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson.
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3 out of 5 stars
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I feel so sorry for some of the authors
- By Martin Malmer on 13-05-19
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Replay
- The History of Video Games
- By: Tristan Donovan, Richard Garriott
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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A riveting account of the birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. From its origins in the research labs of the 1940s to the groundbreaking success of the Wii, Replay sheds new light on gaming's past.
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4 out of 5 stars
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it's pronounced Zed Ex.. not Zee Ex. garrrrrrggghh
- By Karl on 16-10-18
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The Mushroom at the End of the World
- On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
- By: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world - and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made?
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Mushroom at the End of the World
- By maggie on 26-07-19
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Bit by Bit
- How Video Games Transformed Our World
- By: Andrew Ervin
- Narrated by: Andrew Ervin
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Story4 out of 5 stars 8
Video games have seemingly taken over our lives. Whereas gamers once constituted a small and largely male subculture, today 67 percent of American households play video games. The average gamer is now 34 years old and spends eight hours each week playing - and there is a 40 percent chance this person is a woman. In Bit by Bit, Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of video games.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Meh.
- By Mr. K. Korotko on 27-06-18
-
Play Matters
- By: Miguel Sicart
- Narrated by: William Neenan
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 6
What do we think about when we think about play? A pastime? Games? Childish activities? The opposite of work? Think again: If we are happy and well rested, we may approach even our daily tasks in a playful way, taking the attitude of play without the activity of play. So what, then, is play? In Play Matters, Miguel Sicart argues that to play is to be in the world; playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and a way of engaging with others. Play goes beyond games; it is a mode of being human.
-
Indistractable
- How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
- By: Nir Eyal, Julie Li
- Narrated by: Nir Eyal
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 208
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 205
In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more. Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Total waste of time (and credit)
- By Amazon Customer on 26-08-19
-
The State of Play
- Sixteen Voices of Video Games
- By: Linus Larsson, Daniel Goldberg
- Narrated by: Zachary Webber, Alex Hyde-White, Tonya Cornilesse, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 8
The State of Play is a call to consider the high stakes of video game culture and how our digital and real lives collide. Here, video games are not hobbies or pure recreation; they are vehicles for art, sex, and race and class politics. The 16 contributors are entrenched - they are the video game creators themselves, media critics, and Internet celebrities. They share one thing: They are all players at heart, handpicked to form a superstar roster by Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
I feel so sorry for some of the authors
- By Martin Malmer on 13-05-19
-
Replay
- The History of Video Games
- By: Tristan Donovan, Richard Garriott
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
A riveting account of the birth and remarkable evolution of the most important development in entertainment since television, Replay is the ultimate history of video games. From its origins in the research labs of the 1940s to the groundbreaking success of the Wii, Replay sheds new light on gaming's past.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
it's pronounced Zed Ex.. not Zee Ex. garrrrrrggghh
- By Karl on 16-10-18
-
The Mushroom at the End of the World
- On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
- By: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world - and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Mushroom at the End of the World
- By maggie on 26-07-19
-
Bit by Bit
- How Video Games Transformed Our World
- By: Andrew Ervin
- Narrated by: Andrew Ervin
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 11
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 8
Video games have seemingly taken over our lives. Whereas gamers once constituted a small and largely male subculture, today 67 percent of American households play video games. The average gamer is now 34 years old and spends eight hours each week playing - and there is a 40 percent chance this person is a woman. In Bit by Bit, Andrew Ervin sets out to understand the explosive popularity of video games.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Meh.
- By Mr. K. Korotko on 27-06-18
Summary
Life is boring: filled with meetings and traffic, errands and emails. Nothing we'd ever call fun. But what if we've gotten fun wrong? In Play Anything, visionary game designer and philosopher Ian Bogost shows how we can overcome our daily anxiety; transforming the boring, ordinary world around us into one of endless, playful possibilities. The key to this playful mindset lies in discovering the secret truth of fun and games.
Play Anything reveals that games appeal to us not because they are fun, but because they set limitations. Soccer wouldn't be soccer if it wasn't composed of two teams of 11 players using only their feet, heads, and torsos to get a ball into a goal; Tetris wouldn't be Tetris without falling pieces in characteristic shapes. Such rules seem needless, arbitrary, and difficult. Yet it is the limitations that make games enjoyable, just like it's the hard things in life that give it meaning.
Play is what happens when we accept these limitations, narrow our focus, and, consequently, have fun. Which is also how to live a good life. Manipulating a soccer ball into a goal is no different than treating ordinary circumstances - like grocery shopping, lawn mowing, and making PowerPoints - as sources for meaning and joy. We can "play anything" by filling our days with attention and discipline, devotion and love for the world as it really is, beyond our desires and fears. Ranging from Internet culture to moral philosophy, ancient poetry to modern consumerism, Bogost shows us how today's chaotic world can only be tamed - and enjoyed - when we first impose boundaries on ourselves.
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Average customer ratings
Overall
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3.5 out of 5 stars
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5 Stars3
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3.5 out of 5 stars
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- K. Goldschmitt
- 27-11-16
frustrating
This book was a let-down. Way too biased without any compassion for differences or minorities.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- M A Mc
- 01-11-16
An interesting view, but no practical advice
Listening to this book is probably not the best way to take on Bogost's ideas, and personally I founds the reader's emphasis incoherent with content.
Bogost lectures on the many faults of Ironyer, positivism, mindfulness and others.
Instead he offers allowing things to be what they are, and circumscribing them to explore their potential. But how we are to do ''tis is not clear.
It is less a guide and more philosophical thesis.
There is much to ponder.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- C. E. Scurr
- 25-09-16
Not what I was expecting.
Not what I was expecting at all! Very heavy going at times. It was rather like an endurance test to make it to the end but was thought provoking and interesting. I would not have chosen to listen to this had I realised at the beginning what it contained but am glad that I was mistaken and persevered to the end. Very useful (I would think) for someone studying the meaning of play.
I have given 4 stars as I did, unexpectedly, kind of enjoy it. The impersonation of Marie Kondo I thought to be rather patronising.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Dan F
- 18-08-19
repetitive philosophy. stop after chap. 1
he repeats himself and says the same thing and makes the same point and tells you again. when he is on an errand, his daughter makes a game out of stepping on the cracks in the floor. for him it is an errand; for her it is a game. repeat this a hundred times said in slightly different ways and you have this book
1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Hamstav
- 09-09-17
Great book, bad title
I did not find in this book what I was expecting from the title.
It's well written and interesting. I touches briefly on boredom and limits. Much of the time is passed criticizing irony. I would say that irony, instead of play, is the main focus of this book.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 08-10-18
This is not fun.
This book is an exaggeration of definition and observations, it does not provide effective solutions.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- armod
- 14-02-17
Useless
This book has nothing that pertains to practical application. Talks about hipsters obsessions hints that the ideas discussed might have useful applications but does nothing to explore implementation or utilization.
Just a collection of ponderings about pretentious interests
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Kathy Novak
- 31-01-17
Convoluted
Would you try another book from Ian Bogost and/or Jonathan Yen?
Not Bogost but Yen was a good narrator
What could Ian Bogost have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
This was very hard to follow in my opinion. I understood the premise that it is the restrictions of things that make it a game, but I felt the examples jumped all over the place.
Have you listened to any of Jonathan Yen’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No I have not.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
frustration
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Michael logal
- 17-03-17
or become a monk
Being satisfied with everything for what it is and what we are may that the joy out of the things that matter and send it out in the darkness only to return to us as something else.