If Life Is a Game, How Come I'm Not Having Fun?: A Guide to Life's Challenges (Suny Series in Communication Studies) - Softcover

"For most of us, trying to make sense out of the incessant onslaught of daily life is a bewildering task. ...Paul Brenner offers an interesting perspective that can help us navigate our way through this dilemma. In this well-written book, he explores the notion of games and play as metaphors for life. Rather than provide answers, Brenner allows his readers to think for themselves, to complete an idea, or to respond to a provocation. Although each of us must find our own path, Brenner helps us survey the landscape and identify the signs we meet along the way." -- Carl Hosticka, from the Foreword

"Paul Brenner has written a very hopeful and compelling book that points to the power of play, which has been so undervalued in our culture." --Robert J. Landy, Professor, New York University, and author of Persona and Performance: The Meaning of Role in Drama, Therapy, and Everyday Life

In this lively and enlightening book, Paul Brenner suggests that treating life's events and everyday activities as a game would lead to a more socially functional and effective society. Through compelling suggestions and dynamic anecdotes, he conceptualizes all our economic, political, social, and spiritual pursuits in terms of role- play, and demonstrates the contribution this perspective can make to the happiness of individuals and to the systemic welfare of an increasingly complex social order.