Finite and Infinite Games

By: James Carse

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

“There are at least two kinds of games,” states James P. Carse as he begins this extraordinary book. “One could be called finite, the other infinite.”

Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life; they are played in order to be won, which is when they end. But infinite games are more mysterious. Their object is not winning but ensuring the continuation of play. The rules may change, the boundaries may change, even the participants may change - as long as the game is never allowed to come to an end.

What are infinite games? How do they affect the ways we play our finite games? What are we doing when we play - finitely or infinitely? And how can infinite games affect the ways in which we live our lives?

Carse explores these questions with stunning elegance, teasing out of his distinctions a universe of observation and insight, noting where and why and how we play, finitely and infinitely. He surveys our world - from the finite games of the playing field and playing board to the infinite games found in culture and religion - leaving all we think we know illuminated and transformed. Along the way, Carse finds new ways of understanding everything, from how an actress portrays a role to how we engage in sex, from the nature of evil to the nature of science. Finite games, he shows, may offer wealth and status, power and glory, but infinite games offer something far more subtle and far grander.

Carse has written a book rich in insight and aphorism. Already an international literary event, Finite and Infinite Games is certain to be argued about and celebrated for years to come. Listening to it is the first step in learning to play the infinite game.

©2011 James Carse (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Interesting, but not well explained

There are frustratingly few examples of the complex ideas the author is trying to communicate, which detracts from the listener's ability to comprehend. The book is rife with phrases like "the finite game is played within boundaries, while the infinite game plays with boundaries." After about 5 phrases in a row like this, you'd really like an example to fully illustrate what he means, which the author adamantly refuses to provide. It's a real shame because I thought the themes the author plays with really do explore some interesting ways of viewing the world and shaping one's view of the world.

Waaay deeper than I expected

I've been hearing about this book for years but only just read it. It was waaay deeper than I expected, which I liked. I think I'll be rereading this book annually for the next ten years.

Truly a new perspective on life

the content is at times difficult, but worth it to know this view of living

A wonderful unveiling

Thank you. the rules of the finite game of review requires that I write 15 words.

Enlightening

Its ideas go deep and are dense but being a short book, it doesn't give enough time to absorb what you're taking in . will need to listen a second time, gladly.

Enlightening

In the past, at the time when increasingly felt very iffy about the "Book of Revelation", and in the mean time, felt deeply moved by the sayings in the "Gospel of Thomas", I stumbled across this little book(1991 Eighth Print). And that settled it for me. It let me see clearly how and why the two different game playing personality traits had lead people to become the two different types of followers of Jesus... (you can certainly see the trait differences among the followings of Buddha, Laotzu and ... as well)

I feel the need to read this book once every few years.

This book is still very current as we are now entering the age of AI. As Artificial Intelligent machines are becoming more and more human and Human Beings are becoming more and more artificial, we need to read/listen and think hard about those words (such as Ch.84-89) in the book.

The future is rushing toward us. So really hope this book to have a sequel...soon enough.

To Be Infinite

This book is a quintessential set of words with the power to unlock your perception of life. Enhance your vision by reading this book, play as an infinite player.

Not as paradigm shifting as hyped to be.

There were some bits of wisdom and interesting perspectives in this book, however, most of it was nonsense and semantic games just trying to be profound. Overall very disappointing considering all the great reviews and recommendations. I didn’t find it near as paradigm shifting as some apparently did.

Could have been a blogpost

Gave up 1/3 of the way. Same point being repeated over and over again, maybe it gets better later in, will never know

Lots of gems but abridged would have been enough.

Lots of filler but the good parts were great. Adding more words to fill the review blah blah.