Take Time for Paradise

Americans and Their Games

De: A. Bartlett Giamatti

Narrado por: Evan Greenberg

A philosophical musing on sports and play, this wholly inspiring and utterly charming reissue of Bart Giamatti's long-out-of-print final book, Take Time for Paradise, puts baseball in the context of American life and leisure. Giamatti begins with the conviction that our use of free time tells us something about who we are. He explores the concepts of leisure, American-style. And in baseball, the quintessential American game, he finds its ultimate expression. "Sports and leisure are our reiteration of the hunger for paradise - for freedom untrammeled." Filled with pithy truths about such resonant subjects as ritual, self-betterment, faith, home, and community, Take Time for Paradise gives us much more than just baseball. These final, eloquent thoughts of "the philosopher king of baseball" (Seattle Weekly) are a joyful, reverent celebration of the sport Giamatti loved and the country that created it.

©1989 Estate of A. Bartlett Giamatti, Foreword copyright 2011 by Jon Meacham, Afterword copyright 2011 by Marcus Giamatti (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

“Take Time for Paradise” is a Treasure

“Take Time for Paradise” is a great escape from today’s go-go society and a look at our “Free Time” for leisure and recharging. This very readable treasure covers some history and current ways humas enjoy leisure time, a perspective on what constitutes good use of leisure time, baseball, and a post script of why we as humans work hard but must stop and enjoy leisure time during our life travels before our trip is completed. Thank you, George F. Will, for mentioning this book in one of your video interviews and the availability of our current electronic tools to find this treasure of literature. The chapter on baseball is a great detailed description of the game (for us who are lacking in baseball knowledge) and its rules in an almost poetic and leisurely writing style. This was a great escape and worth another read sometime in the future. Experienced as an Audio book.

Is this Heaven?

We can only dream what he might have done for the game of baseball had he lived longer. Giamatti describes baseball in a way that people who aren’t fans might understand why those of us who are enjoy the unique experience it brings to life.

Don't bother if you don't know baseball

This was recommended enthusiasticly by my pastor: an intelligent man, dedicated to baseball and to metaphor and to God .Try though I did to reinterpret this book's metaphors to ones relatable to me as a visual artist, I failed utterly in that attempt.
I confess to my total and complete ignorance of the game;
for me, it was a snooze fest.