The Play Ethic

A zeitgeist defining book that will challenge all that you know about work, rest and play.

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. But even more than this it is a survival guide for those seeking to break the shackles of work dominated society.

Shocking, controversial, yet magnificently argued, 'The Play Ethic' is a book no one who works, or has ever worked, can afford to be without.