Finite and Infinite Games

By: James Carse

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

“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

maybe not what you think?

this was more of a philosophical treatise than anything else. I was hoping to glean some advice in regards to business and the idea of playing the infinite game vs finite game that is starting to be more common in business circles due to Simon Sinek and others. This is something completely different. this is like a modern day Nietzsche or other some such philosophical book. it perhaps will be viewed as important or timely and fall in line with a Proverbs type remembrqnce. or it might get lost in time. either way, unless you're prepped for his specific type of talk you won't pull much useful and applicable content, though you might find a point or two worth mulling over in your head.

Knowledge

This book has many meanings and should be listened to/read numerous times as it will help you to understand it on a greater level. Highly recommended.

Wonderful Read

You will love this book and it will change your mindset. It gets kind of weird for like a chapter, but stay with it and you'll get a great grasp of the realm in which you operate based solely on the behavior of the people in your lives.

Great beginning and ending

Kind of got lost in the rhythmic reading of the text. Probably better to understand if read in a book rather than listened to.

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

Good Theory, Longer than Necessary

Philosophically the book was very good, I was entertained by the notions and see some heuristics I can apply to make sense of our crazy world. That being said it could have ended 50% of the way in and had the same value. 5 Stars if it was more concise. The extra 50% was just redundancy that the author had done good philosophy

interesting theory, difficult application

the overall concept of the book the difference between a game with no boundaries and a game with set boundaries it's fascinating. however the application seemed difficult and did not ReSound with my world view

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.