This is perhaps a limitation of ‘grown-up’ public imagination than with the concept itself. You tend not to think about retail stores and fashion, or the global spice trade. When you think ‘play’ you think sports, theatre, and children. This is no bad thing, but is less common with non-fictional texts where the story has already partly been told. I should admit from the outset that some of the chapters took me off guard and needed time to settle down with. As we have come to expect from Johnson the writing is fluid and lively, with a tone that is wise and reflective. His latest book Wonderland: How play made the modern world is a long view of something we often consider to be short-term fun, inconsequential, and childish that thing is play. This 297 page book, the latest in a series by Johnson on the history of innovative, is organised into six lengthy chapters: fashion and shopping, music, taste, illusion, games, and public space. Steven Johnson likes to take the long view. Mark Gatenby, Associate Professor at the Southampton Business School, gives his verdict on Steven Johnson’s Wonderland.
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