Stuart Brown (3)

Mostly a string of anecdotes mounted om a shaky framework of personal opinions, feelings and philosophy.
Too little evidence and data based for me to appreciate, although there were some generalisations that seemed to hold some value.
The book was also pretty useless as a self-help book as there were preciously little in terms of putting the observations into action - exercises, practices, heuristics, principles.
There is a clear lack of scientific rigour and quite a lot of bias in the book, making it a relic of wishfull thinking rather than research.
Although I can see a germ of an idea in using play to create or at least sustain psycological safety.… (mer)

I really liked this book, and the explanation of the role play plays in our lives is amazing and profound.

I can't think of a reason for anyone not to read this, but if you are a parent or a teacher you should absolutely make the time for it. (I plan to give it to a couple teachers I know for Xmas.)

The only fault I find for it is the large amount of anecdotal evidence the author cites, this isn't to say he doesn't cite some scientific studies, not at all, but I would have preferred to see more focus on the objective science behind play. I suspect this focus has its roots in the fact that the study of play is a fairly young field.… (mer)