Across the Board by Tim Clare

ACROSS THE BOARD by Tim Clare is a non-fiction work about “How Games Make Us Human.” Clare has received awards and nominations for both his fiction and non-fiction works and he adopts a conversational, friendly tone in his latest, dividing the book into fourteen chapters covering dice, Monopoly, card games, and more. I loved his “pocket definition” (borrowed from Bernard Shaw) of playing a game: “the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.” It seems appropriate to write about this book on the weekend of the annual Geekway Conference  since Clare writes about historian Johan Huizinga’s views that playing as a group “could create the feeling of being ‘apart together’ in an exceptional situation, of sharing something important, of mutually withdrawing from the rest of the world and rejecting the usual norms.” ACROSS THE BOARD is a fun, informative look at the surprising history and common themes between games. Bonus: for tons of game ideas and ratings, consult the Geekway Library based on BoardGameGeek.com (filled with videos, news, and crowdsourcing opportunities), which even Clare references.  

On the Edge by Nate Silver

Written by Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight and bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, a new book titled ON THE EDGE is all about "The Art of Risking Everything.” Silver looks at risk through the lens of gambling (he is a former professional poker player), trading, and model-building. He opines that “there is something hardwired in people who seek out risk and wrangle it successfully” and he interviews risk-takers from disparate fields like hedge funds, vaccine development, and philosophy. These individuals, to him, inhabit what he calls The River, “a sprawling ecosystem of like-minded people. … It is a way of thinking and a mode of life.” Silver summarizes a cognitive cluster (analytical, abstract, high decoupling) and a personality cluster (competitive, critical, contrarian, risk-tolerant). The midsection of the book outlines and describes 13 Habits of Highly Effective Risk-Takers (e.g., courage, preparation, adaptability). Later, he contrasts “Riverians” with “Villagers,” those who are more political, more conformist, more risk-adverse, “increasingly focusing on equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunity.” Throughout, Silver speaks directly to the reader and makes a concerted effort to explain concepts; in fact, roughly thirty percent of this lengthy book is devoted to a glossary of terms (e.g., expected value), a description of methods and sources, and extensive notes. ON THE EDGE received a starred review from Kirkus (“an enlightening study of the people who play the game of risk and win”). Although a bit dense for our students, finance professionals and many others will find much to contemplate and act upon here. Professional reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and numerous other publications.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) is a LibraryReads selection for July. This novel deals with … video games: “and this is the truth of any game – it can only exist at the moment it is being played. It’s the same with being an actor. In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, in the only world that we know.” Sadie Green, and Sam Masur are the designers and programmers, Marx is the producer. They are all college students (Harvard and MIT) who eventually make it big with a successful game, but find their objectives diverging as they grow older. Plenty of questions here about identity and belonging, too. Sam (who is disabled due to a childhood accident) and Marx are biracial Asian Americans “and as any mixed-race person will tell you – to be half of two things is to be whole of nothing.” Sadie struggles with self-worth and the anti-female culture of video-gaming. I still find my favorite Zevin novel to be Elsewhere and this latest is certainly more adult-oriented, particularly the sections where undergraduate Sadie becomes involved with an older, married professor. Called “a love letter to the Literary Gamer” by The New York Times reviewer, TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW received starred reviews from Kirkus, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.  

Super Family Fun Card Games and more ...

SUPER FUN FAMILY CARD GAMES by Corinne Schmitt is a great resource in these stay at home times. Of course, there are online sites, like Bicycle Cards that offer rules and suggestions, but this book contains 75 games for all ages – categorized by skill level (easy, medium or hard) and whether they are best for two or more players, two players, or just one person. Need a refresher on some old family favorites?  Classics like Go Fish, Slapjack and Crazy Eights are included and so are Kings in the Corner, 99, Canasta and Euchre.  There are plenty of new (to me, at least) games like Pepper, Guess My Number, and Emperor Solitaire as well. Enjoy!!   

Oh, here’s one more idea: have you and your family tried Sporcle? We played it years ago and the site was recently recommended again by a student since it has an astounding variety of timed quizzes to play alone or virtually with friends. For example, can you name the 50 single syllable words that rhyme with cat – that (hint) is not as easy as it sounds!