The Spirit of the Game

There is nothing quite like The Spirit of the Game \- it defies categories.
The book offers a unique personal history of the world, integrating the
variety of human endeavorr into a coherent world- view. It covers mathematics,
philosophy, science, business and economics, politics, linguistics, and art as
well as the ultimate questions of value – human creativity in all its forms.

The book presents a penetrating critique of Western culture, warts and all,
but the author steers clear of fashionable doomsday scenarios. Instead he
foresees a major discontinuity – a new hypercycle – which will amount to an
unprecedented challenge for mankind. Never have the threats and the
opportunities been so

great. Throughout, the narrative is sustained by the game metaphor. The world
is perceived as a hierarchy of dynamic game processes ranging from the
abstractions of mathematics to the co- operation and conflict within
societies. In general, the value system – the “meta-rules” of the game – will
decide the future of human communities – companies, countries or whole
cultures. The ethical imperative is to take part in constructive plus-sum
play, shunning vacuous zero-sum games. The core rule of fair play draws upon
the elusive but all-pervasive spirit of the game.