Rating: 
Summary: A good book for some...
Review: ...but not for me. His definitions and classifications are on their face thought-provoking, but ultimately too abstract and contradictory to be of any value to me. The establishment by examples of his game theory in the first section in my eyes seemed most unfortunate. He would've been much better off, in my opinion, approaching the subject from the idea of "play" rather than "game". It seems that using the term "game" at all put the whole reading in a concrete, finite position, and when we can only identify the infinite through its actions in the finite, of what real value is the infinite?But then again, maybe this was all by design. The interplay of abstraction and contradiction has been what's made the best religious/spiritual writings what they are. I personally no longer find any spiritual sanctity in this kind of willful complication of thought, hence where his writing and my reading may part ways. Worth reading? Sure. What book isn't? But if you have any particular taste for logic and rationality at all, as God asked Noah(via Bill Cosby), "How long can you tread water?"
Rating:
Summary: A good book for some...
Review: ...but not for me. His definitions and classifications are on their face thought-provoking, but ultimately too abstract and contradictory to be of any value to me. The establishment by examples of his game theory in the first section in my eyes seemed most unfortunate. He would've been much better off, in my opinion, approaching the subject from the idea of "play" rather than "game". It seems that using the term "game" at all put the whole reading in a concrete, finite position, and when we can only identify the infinite through its actions in the finite, of what real value is the infinite? But then again, maybe this was all by design. The interplay of abstraction and contradiction has been what's made the best religious/spiritual writings what they are. I personally no longer find any spiritual sanctity in this kind of willful complication of thought, hence where his writing and my reading may part ways. Worth reading? Sure. What book isn't? But if you have any particular taste for logic and rationality at all, as God asked Noah(via Bill Cosby), "How long can you tread water?"
Rating: 
Summary: The only mystical things
Review: about James Carse's book "Finite and Infinite Games" is the
existence of the fine mind which realised it, and the human
being who wrote it down.
Best wishes, Robin Michael Rowley.
Rating:
Summary: poetic, insightful
Review: An exceptionally perspicacious, cohesive vision of society, culture and, quite naturally, our very selves, through the prism of games. Gems from thinkers diverse as Wittgenstein, Lao-Tzu, George Bernard Shaw, Edmund Burke, Dickens, Blake, Hegel, Heisenberg are seamlessly woven into this fascinating little book. Some chapter titles include "I am the Genius of Myself", "Nature is the Realm of the Unspeakable", "We Control Nature for Societal Reasons", and "Myth Provokes Explanation but Accepts None of It". Perpetually interesting.
Rating:
Summary: The winner is
Review: anybody who takes it upon themselves to sit, read, delve, and ingest the pages of this masterful, yet quite simple text. The book tells you absolutely nothing new, but instead organizes the minute intricacies of everyday life, only to expose them under one giant spotlight as pretense and absurdity. The book never takes a side for the players of finite or infinite games, but definitely leads the reader to a conclusion, if not a clearer perspective, on the roles in which we play socially and mentally. Not accomplishing this by the bashing of social roles and institutions, but rather by the presentation of hard truth and logic. A life changer, if not a call to all players to "play on".
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting!!!!
Review: Carse's general idea / concept of infinite & finite games is very interesting but I must say that as I read through the book I can't help but feel that there seems to be a departure. The book eventually evolve to something quite distrubing and unsure (to me at least). Perhaps it's something we are all not too fimilar with, but something just don't seem right. I think I'll go along with Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars' take on finite&infinite games as in their "Mastering the infinite game" book. They seem to catch the essense. Yes,indeed it's the essense of Carse's idea which makes "finite & infinite games" interesting.
Rating:
Summary: What kind of game are you playing?
Review: Everything that you do can be thought of as a game. All human activities take place within boundaries, all have a limited duration, and all are directed towards some sort of end or goal. There are rules for chess and rules for polite conversation, rules for checkers and rules for driving, rules for soccer and rules for the boardroom, rules for football and rules for the bedroom. You play games by yourself, game with friends, games with coworkers and games with strangers. Everyone is a player, weather they realize it or not, but what type of player are you? As James P Carse puts it, there are two types of games, finite and infinite. And two types of players. Finite players play -within- rules, infinite players play -with- rules. Finite players play to end the game (with their victory), infinite players play to continue the game (by whatever means they see fit). Finite players play to win, infinite players play to play. This book helped me see things in ways I hadn't seen them before. By putting my attention on the rules I play by, I realized I could do more with those rules, and change those rules, more than I had thought possible. I became better at playing all my games, because I no longer played for the same reasons as I had before. Read the book and you might play a different game as well.
Rating:
Summary: What kind of game are you playing?
Review: Everything that you do can be thought of as a game. All human activities take place within boundaries, all have a limited duration, and all are directed towards some sort of end or goal. There are rules for chess and rules for polite conversation, rules for checkers and rules for driving, rules for soccer and rules for the boardroom, rules for football and rules for the bedroom. You play games by yourself, game with friends, games with coworkers and games with strangers. Everyone is a player, weather they realize it or not, but what type of player are you? As James P Carse puts it, there are two types of games, finite and infinite. And two types of players. Finite players play -within- rules, infinite players play -with- rules. Finite players play to end the game (with their victory), infinite players play to continue the game (by whatever means they see fit). Finite players play to win, infinite players play to play. This book helped me see things in ways I hadn't seen them before. By putting my attention on the rules I play by, I realized I could do more with those rules, and change those rules, more than I had thought possible. I became better at playing all my games, because I no longer played for the same reasons as I had before. Read the book and you might play a different game as well.
Rating:
Summary: A personal revelation
Review: Finite and Infinite Games has been for me nothing less than a revelation. I first read this short discourse shortly after it was published in 1986, and have not gone a year without revisiting it both to understand and to use within my own life. What Finite and Infinite Games does is bring perspective. It empowers the self to understand and accept the finite rules imposed by ourselves or others and to decide if and how one plays around those rules or with those rules. It is a book of hope. Alas, James Carse's book is not for everyone. Of the many copies I have given to family and friends, some half have not inspired the recipients. I suspect that one must either be looking for, desire, or already be aware of a little bit of the infinite to really understand the slightly abstract nature of this work. For over a decade one of the top 2 books in my library.
Rating:
Summary: New Age Nonsense
Review: Having an interest in Game Theory, and also seeing the praise this book has received from reviewers, not least on this site, I opened this book with high hopes. Imagine my disappointment, therefore, on discovering that it is pure New Age-type drivel with a pseudo-philosophical style. Imagine my further disappointment on discovering that the book is a Trojan horse for encouraging spirituality or religious beliefs, specifically Christianity, although the author pretends to deny this. Don't be fooled by the references to Wittgenstein et al, this is altogether a mendacious piece of tripe which will appeal only to the feeble-minded.
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