Playground: Signed Edition
Hardback Published on: 26/09/2024
Price: £20.00
Bookseller Reviews
View all
Playground is to the ocean what The Overstory was to the forest
Richard Powers' 2018 novel The Overstory explored the relationship between humanity and the natural world by following a group of interconnected characters... READ MORE
Spellbinding
I adored Playground. Reading it felt like coming home. I arrived to the familiar excellence of Richard Powers’ spellbinding prose, and I never wanted to le... READ MORE
Powers again....
Where do I start???
Powers showed us the sanctum sanctorum, the innermost of the innermost of the magnificent characters and their lives but in such a bea... READ MORE
A real zeitgeist of a book
In classic Powers style, Playgound weaves together four lives all linked in time by the greatest force on earth - the ocean. From North Chicago to French P... READ MORE
When an island in French Polynesia is chosen for a seasteading project, an artist, schoolteacher, AI pioneer and marine biologist must come to terms with each other and their differing priorities. A stunning exploration of climate change, the influence of AI and the power of the ocean.
A standard edition is available here.
Browse our Signed & Luxury Editions page.
Synopsis
Playground follows four lives – a marine biologist, an artist, a schoolteacher, and an AI pioneer – that intersect on an island in French Polynesia when it is chosen as a base for seasteading, humanity’s next great adventure.
Powers is the author of the bestselling Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Overstory and the Booker-shortlisted Bewilderment.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Cornerstone
- ISBN: 2928377267728
- Number of pages: 400
- Dimensions: 242 x 162 x 35 mm
- Weight: 619g
- Languages: English
Customer Reviews
View allLiterary genius!
Written from multiple narrative perspectives and moving back and forth in time gives this novel a somewhat disorientating feel. At times, I felt a little '... READ MORE
A Master storyteller with a powerful message - superb
'For every island is a canoe, and all of earth is an island, living by the grace of the immense and slowly turning blue creature'
Human life is at a cr... READ MORE
Timely and Beautiful!
"Once people witnessed the abundance of underwater life, once they lived there, they would ache to take care of the place like it was their home."
"As A... READ MORE
Interesting
I was sent an advance proof copy of Playground by Richard Powers to read and review by NetGalley. I am in two minds about this book! It is well written a... READ MORE
Wonderful
Two boys form an unlikely friendship at an elite Chicago school. A college student from a Pacific island finds herself on a continent for the first time in... READ MORE
The magical mysteries of the sea
In Playground Richard Powers does for the sea and AI what he accomplished for trees in The Overstory. Both exceptional tales taking personal stories from d... READ MORE
A storytelling masterpiece
Playground
By Richard Powers
The only 2 other books I have previously read by this author, The Overstory and Bewilderment, left me with the distinct f... READ MORE
ARC review
Playground is a captivating novel by Richard Powers, that intricately weaves together various narratives to deliver a powerful ecological message. Shifting... READ MORE
A modern masterpiece
If you have read any of Powers' previous novels, you don't need to know more than this: this is another masterpiece which you will absolutely adore. If you... READ MORE
Another Powers Wonder
It is very difficult to say much of substance about this book without giving away everything that makes it such a brilliant piece of art. Suffice it to say... READ MORE
Another dazzling masterpiece of ecofiction
'Playground' is another dazzling novel by Richard Powers which beautifully weaves together different narrative strands to offer a powerful ecological messa... READ MORE
Fantastic accompaniment to The Overstory & Bewilderment
First a quote from one of Powers’ previous books, The Overstory:
“The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can ... READ MORE
Playground Games
The book consists of three narratives that are linked together.
There is Evelyn’s, now in her nineties, who was a pioneering women diver; her story cover... READ MORE
An absolute stunner
Sometimes a book looks into your soul and holds a mirror up to your life. Playground did this for me, and for the world as a whole, showing us where we are... READ MORE
Marvellous and illuminating
Playground is a novel set in and around the oceans. As with his novel The Overstory, the disparate characters' lives are drawn together over a period of ti... READ MORE
Beauty, joy, loss and destruction, a climatic tug-of-war!
Immediately on opening and reading the epigraph and the first chapter which describes the story of Ta'aroa who is one of the gods in Tahitian mythology, al... READ MORE
Very Impressive Read!
Playground is an evocative, brilliant book, glittering with possibilities. Unique characters inhabit it, like little perfect gems. There is Evelyn, a deep-... READ MORE
Recommended reading
Okay, I suspect we'd all expect Powers to tackle Big Ideas, and he does in this multi-narrative novel. And expectations are always high for a writer with h... READ MORE
Beautiful
What a beautiful book.
What puzzles me is this - why have I not read Richard Powers before. After finishing Playground I ordered both The Overstory and ... READ MORE
A Master storyteller and a novel with a powerful message - superb
'For every island is a canoe, and all of earth is an island, living by the grace of the immense and slowly turning blue creature'
Human life is at a cr... READ MORE
Beautiful
This is such a beautifully written book! A gorgeous exploration of the ocean and the people who love it, alongside a discussion of pertinent issues in toda... READ MORE
An ideal read for those who enjoy thought-provoking stories
Playground centres on Makatea, an Island in French Polynesia where 82 residents have been chosen for a seasteading experiment (Seasteading/ ocean settlemen... READ MORE
Majestic, intricate, world-building
Four different characters are inserted into this work - a marine biologist, a schoolteacher, an artist and an AI expert. The main setting is Polynesia, the... READ MORE
Another brilliant book - will this one win the Booker
Richard Powers 11th novel “Orfeo” was longlisted for the 2014 Booker Prize (the first year in which US authors were eligible). His subsequent (and most rec... READ MORE
Beautiful descriptions of the ocean
It’s not a good sign that when I finished this book, I had to read other people’s reviews to see if I’d missed or misunderstood anything.
On the face of... READ MORE
Fascinating but a bit hardgoing
This book holds an interesting cast of characters, and great philosophical questions - as we destroy our world, can we create new civilisations?
I have ... READ MORE
One of the best books of 2024!
"Once people witnessed the abundance of underwater life, once they lived there, they would ache to take care of the place like it was their home."
"As A... READ MORE
The beauty of the ocean
I was thrilled to receive a copy of Playground and Powers had a lot to live up to and I am pleased to say he delivered.
The playground of Powers world was... READ MORE
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