Scan barcode
ovenbird_reads's review
5.0
It turns out that this book is a perfect companion to Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists. Ackerman also talks about secular spirituality, but from a slightly different perspective. Her book is more about personal transformation than institutional reorganization and my heart has been filled to bursting with her scintillating prose and illumination of what it means to be human. She believes that a form of play called "deep play" is at the core of human spirituality and she spends this book delving into instances of such play--art, poetry, acts of physical endurance, all the places where humans push their creativity and embodied selves to the limits in order to explicate the meaning of living. This is such a beautiful book that ignites a new passion for the small but overwhelmingly amazing details of every day life. Ackerman makes a trip to the Antarctic to see the Emperor penguins and a bicycle ride through a local forest seem like equally worthy adventures. Her poetic language and deeply wise observations about the world enact the thesis of her book: deep play is a tonic for our atheistic souls, one that is necessary and intrinsically tied to our humanity. I want to read this book over and over again until its message becomes instantly available in my mind.
kat_macwhirter's review
5.0
(Review originally written July 2005, if anyone can remember what book drama was happening on the 16th of July that year...)
Diane Ackerman, I am convinced, could write an entire book on moldy bread and it would be a treat. So far, I have followed her through gardens, grey matter, Shakespeare, penguins and albatross, and into taste buds, angels, and the fighting rats of Proust. I was saving Deep Play because I had already run through every other Ackerman book I could buy or call in from the library, but decided that the let-down after the 16th was worth an occasion.
With her gift for poetry and an unique bent for science, Ackerman makes real the wonderful, and helps us see, feel, and taste where the wonder comes in. With Deep Play, she attempts to explain the waking dream state that scientists, artists, and mystics must enter in order to discover and create, and the ceremonies and agreements that connect us all.
All in all, as good an experience as ever. She treats her readers like friends, and I love to argue with her almost as much as I want to follow wherever she takes it into her head to go. My only complaint? This was a brief book, and had me hankering for another go at An Alchemy of Mind to complete my education.
Diane Ackerman, I am convinced, could write an entire book on moldy bread and it would be a treat. So far, I have followed her through gardens, grey matter, Shakespeare, penguins and albatross, and into taste buds, angels, and the fighting rats of Proust. I was saving Deep Play because I had already run through every other Ackerman book I could buy or call in from the library, but decided that the let-down after the 16th was worth an occasion.
With her gift for poetry and an unique bent for science, Ackerman makes real the wonderful, and helps us see, feel, and taste where the wonder comes in. With Deep Play, she attempts to explain the waking dream state that scientists, artists, and mystics must enter in order to discover and create, and the ceremonies and agreements that connect us all.
All in all, as good an experience as ever. She treats her readers like friends, and I love to argue with her almost as much as I want to follow wherever she takes it into her head to go. My only complaint? This was a brief book, and had me hankering for another go at An Alchemy of Mind to complete my education.
erinsampson91's review against another edition
I love Diane Ackerman but I just wasn't in the mood for this. I was having a hard time understanding her concept of "deep play".
buffee's review
4.0
this book was inspiring for getting in touch with my sense of play. i've always felt it whenever i go into nature or am exercising in the outdoors or just when i'm being especially aware of my surroundings, whether they be people or just outdoors - but ms. ackerman has a way of putting the feeling of that into words that i do not. also, she was a student and friend of mr. carl sagan and it was nice to hear her anecdotes even though he had recently lost a long fight with cancer.
veewatson's review
4.0
I loved the beautiful and lyrical prose and the subject matter. This book was full of history mixed with the author's experiences and journalling. I thought most of it was extremely interesting but all it did was peak my interest to read her references. It wasn't as cohesive as I would have hoped. It was neither a collection of creative non fiction essays nor a treatise on the subject of play. It lightly brushed against a lot of the deeper psychology, sociology, historical meaning and spiritual elements without exploring it beyond her quick take on the tidbit of information. It could have been more in depth, had more of arch or each chapter could have been treated as an essay with it's own theme. I still enjoyed it and was happy to read it. She's a wonderful writer.
ariel_bloomer's review
2.0
When I was not thinking "Damn, Diane, who are you???", the religious studies major in me was cringing at her contradictory forays into the sacred and profane.
emilydufford's review
informative
slow-paced
2.75
Still not sure what this book was about. I was so excited to read another Diane Ackerman book but this was a disappointment.
canadianbookworm's review against another edition
2.0
Not as enjoyable as her other books. Found it jumpy.
More...