Playing By The Book

How filling life with play-whether soccer or lawn mowing, counting sheep or tossing Angry Birds -- forges a new path for creativity and joy in our impatient age 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 eleven 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.

Get into the minds of the greatest gamblers of all time. Read in-depth interviews with eight masters of the games. Learn how they think, how they play, and what made them successful. The interview subjects include: Billy Walters (sports betting), Chip Reese (poker), Doyle Brunson (poker), Mike Svobodny (backgammon), Stan Tomchin (backgammon and sports betting), Cathy Hulbert (blackjack and poker), Alan Woods (blackjack and horse racing), and Tommy Hyland (blackjack).

A BEST CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times, Washington Post, New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Globe and Mail, Horn Book, and Boston Globe STARRED Reviews in Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, The Horn Book, School Library Journal A 2022 Best Book for Babies From Julie Flett, the beloved author and illustrator of Birdsong, comes a joyous new book about playtime for babies, toddlers, and kids up to age 7. Animals and kids love to play! This wonderful book celebrates playtime and the connection between children and the natural world. Beautiful illustrations show: birds who chase and chirp! bears who wiggle and wobble! whales who swim and squirt! owls who peek and peep! and a diverse group of kids who love to do the same, shouting: We play too! / kimêtawânaw mîna At the end of the book, animals and children gently fall asleep after a fun day of playing outside, making this book a great bedtime story. A beautiful ode to the animals and humans we share our world with, We All Play belongs on every bookshelf. This book also includes: A glossary of Cree words for wild animals in the book A pronunciation guide and link to audio pronunciation recordings

The full eBook version of Bert Weedon's Play in a Day in fixed-layout format. Play in a Day remains the world's most successful guitar tutor. It is as much a legend as the stars who've learnt from it - Eric Clapton, Mike Oldfield, Paul McCartney, Steve Hillage, George Harrison, John Lennon, Sting, Brian May, Pete Townshend and dozens more. Play in a Day is easy to use, inexpensive and can help to turn you into a legendary performer too.

‘LOVED it... Romantic, witty, insightful and engaging.’ Sue Moorcroft, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Home in the Sun ***Shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Jane Wenham-Jones Award for Romantic Comedy!***

A brand-new standalone novel in the New York Times bestselling Briar U series! What I learned after last year’s distractions cost my hockey team our entire season? No more screwing up. No more screwing, period. As the new team captain, I need a new philosophy: hockey and school now, women later. Which means that I, Hunter Davenport, am officially going celibate…no matter how hard that makes things. But there’s nothing in the rulebook that says I can’t be friends with a woman. And I won’t lie—my new classmate Demi Davis is one cool chick. Her smart mouth is hot as hell, and so is the rest of her, but the fact that she’s got a boyfriend eliminates the temptation to touch her. Except three months into our friendship, Demi is single and looking for a rebound. And she’s making a play for me. Avoiding her is impossible. We’re paired up on a yearlong school project, but I’m confident I can resist her. We’d never work, anyway. Our backgrounds are too different, our goals aren’t aligned, and her parents hate my guts. Hooking up is a very bad idea. Now I just have to convince my body—and my heart.

A couple's pleasant little life is upended by the revelation that their son was switched at birth in this gripping psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before. Pete Riley stays at home; his partner, Maddie, is the breadwinner. He spends his days browsing parenting blogs, where no concern is too trivial, and pacifying their rambunctious son, Theo. Then, one day, a knock at the door. Miles and Lucy, a posh and near-perfect couple, tell Pete something shocking: Theo isn't his son. Their children were switched at the hospital. At first, the couples are determined to reach a mutual agreement. They're all nice, rational people--surely they can sort this out between them. But soon their precarious arrangement--of babysitting, play dates and shared parenthood--begins to erode under the weight of perceived slights, hidden anxieties and petty jealousies. It isn't long before Miles reveals himself to be cold, commanding and aggressive. When he brings a custody case against the Rileys, suddenly their parenting abilities are under suspicion and their private lives become ammunition. That's when their damaging secrets are exposed, their relationship tested to its breaking point. They might teach their son to share and behave, to say "please" and "thank you," but when it comes to protecting their little family, Pete and Maddie are through with playing nice.

This collection of essays examines early modern drama in the context of book history, and focuses on the readership of plays that opens different perspectives on the relationship between the cultures of print and performance.