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All wisdom has it’s genesis in play. I have found that people who truly and sincerely value playfulness are, almost without exception, the ones who succeed in creating and maintaining a lasting alliance with the light. I believe that wherever there is learning, humanity, and life, it almost certainly is sustained through a healthy but dedicated connection with play. For this reason, I could never give an unbiased review of Cas Holman’s book. Ever since watching Netflix’s original Abstract episode about her life’s work, I have been a champion of her career and her mission to foster a spirit of play, rebellion, and mischief around the world. I am so pleased she has focused and distilled that work into a new medium, this book, for the masses. It will easily be my go-to for people curious about play that have no background or foundation in the subject.

Indeed, Cas’ book encapsulates and touches upon so many of the foundational elements of the play principle. She traces the seminal pieces of literature, figures, and ideas, which will doubtless provide many new initiates plenty of rabbit holes to chase. The book itself reads in a circular way, where ideas she mentions once or twice are repeated throughout for reinforcement. Play leads to joy, unlocks creativity, breaks down stereotypes, amplifies diversity, instills resilience, etc… Naturally, the most impactful elements of the book are the ones tied to Cas’ personal life. Most notably for me were the insights into her personal journey and living spaces, such as purchasing a large “ranch” in upstate New York to turn into the perfect play campus. She is not just a teacher, a designer, or a talking head that expounds theories. She is walking the walk (or, maybe, skipping the skip.) I find these parts so inspiring.

On account of having also written about play on a few different occasions, I am familiar with the difficulties of transmuting the concepts through the written word. You can’t really teach people to play, you can only try to inspire them to experience it themselves. If I had any criticism of the book, it would only be that there might have been more experimental or out-of-the-box ways to communicate the messages beyond left-to-right reading structure. Perhaps we could have found more ways to play with the assumptions of what it means to read a book and engage with the medium. But this is, perhaps, an unfair criticism and expecting something unreasonable. Perhaps this leaves room for a workbook that provokes interactivity to be made as a companion to this wonderful work.

Conclusion: If you are new to the subject of play and how it incorporates into life and business, this is the best place to start. If you’ve been on game for a while, still pick it up, but know that the content might be mostly familiar!