Customer Reviews

Deep Play

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Diane Ackerman writes with such beauty and her examples are so rich and invigorating. I refer people to her books all the time to experience word artistry in non fiction writers.

In fact, the word "Play" was getting on my nerves with regularity until I read this book which really outlines the Sacred aspect of play.

After reading, I look at everything involving Play from a different plane. My two year old delights in Mommy's delight! How is THAT for trading spaces!

I can't understand the low rating this book has had so far. Some people who reviewed it must be cranky.

Buy it, revel in it, play with the content.

I've enjoyed Ackerman's other books, but this one failed to engage me. It did seem like she stitched a bunch of diary pages together and sent it to her publisher. She's a beautiful poet, but this time her thoughts seemed scattered with only the most lackaidasical attempt on her part to synthesize them.

Usually, I enjoy her style, but I was especially distracted this time trying to keep the relationship between her personal anecdotes and the deep play theory straight.

I have to admit, though, the paperback version has one of the most gorgeous covers I've ever seen. It's sad when more effort appears to have gone into a book's design than its content, though.

Ackerman is like that great friend of yours that is always throwing interesting facts your way to inspire you. She is so smart and at the same time she is playful and fun. After reading any of her works, I always find myself looking at the world a little closer.
Enjoy this book- it should be on the shelf of every creative artist.

As a creative woman and professional writer, this is one of the best books I have read on creativity. It is about learning to find time for play-- something we are strongly discouraged to do as we grow up and become adults. Diane Ackerman teaches us to see that we do play, and encourages us to nurture that play. Play is a time of learning, and a time of relaxing and letting go. It is revitalizing, and allows us to refresh and find new insights, which ultimately leads us to become creative. Ackerman guides us through her personal experiences with examples that enlighten, delight and are enjoyable to read.

Diane Ackerman brings forth yet another stunning lyrical prose that is sure to delight. This book is in itself a 'Deep Play' for not only the author but the reader as well, a book that is meant for enjoyment and relaxation. Ackerman is indeed a stylist in her own right.

I found Deep Play to be a fairly quick read, and enjoyed it immensely. This was not a terribly esoteric read-I actually expected more "science" behind the human need for deep play. However, Ackerman's skill with the written word carries her through here, and the book was a delight regardless.

I don't want to sound like a curmedgeon, but this book is, to put it mildly, way too self-indulgent. I too like to bike and think, "Wow, the world is a great place," but I truly didn't think anyone else would care. This is a self-indulgent recap of "neat things Diane Ackerman has done in her life" loosely tied together by this deep play idea she gets from Huizinga without ever citing the original source material. It's not that I didn't enjoy reading it -- I did. It reminds me of reading a diary or a travel-log of a friend's adventures. But, compared to her other works, this is fluff with too much of a focus on the author. If the author hadn't been well-known, this never would have been published.

I'm discovering that it really doesn't matter what Ackerman writes about, her ideas and writing style both are so rich. This one, about transcendance, religion, creativity, and other related topics, really spoke to me. I've already reread this book and passed it along to a friend. Beautiful book!

I'm discovering that it really doesn't matter what Ackerman writes about, her ideas and writing style both are so rich. This one, about transcendance, religion, creativity, and other related topics, really spoke to me. I've already reread this book and passed it along to a friend. Beautiful book!

I'm not sure what I was expecting, something that would teach me or affect me, I suppose. Every time I thought the writer was going to say something profound, there she was, off riding her bicycle again. As I was reading I checked the cover more than once to see if the book was subtitled 'The Joy of Bicycling', or something like that, that I'd overlooked when I bought it. She's certainly more athletic than I am, and although I am dimly aware there's joy in using the body, overall it reads like a list of skills, none of which have anything to do with me. Perhaps the book left me unmoved because I just couldn't find much common ground with it, and the parts where I could, I've either read elsewhere, or discovered for myself. It's pleasant enough to read, but I found nothing that left a lasting impression. Except for those cussed bicycles.