I came across a recommendation for this book in Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools . It's an extended philosophical argument for participating in an "infinite game". In Carse's parlance: "A finite game is a game that has fixed rules and boundaries, that is played for the purpose of winning and thereby ending the game. An infinite game has no fixed rules or boundaries. In an infinite game you play with the boundaries and the purpose is to continue the game."

Carse's writing is frustrating. He specializes in twist-round sentences, where he repeats the same phrase twice, but switches two words around the second time, inverting the meaning, kind of like "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". It's clever the first few times, but it gets to be incredibly annoying.

The copy I read boasted a cover blurb from Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. If Pirsig's worldview as articulated in that book appeals to you, Carse's likely will as well.

Incidentally, I borrowed this book from a library instead of buying a copy. It's the start of an early New Year's resolution to spend less money on media that I don't intend to archive.