According to Roger Caillois, play is "an occasion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, ingenuity, skill, and often of money." In spite of this - or because of it - play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development. In this classic study, Caillois defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life. Play is uncertain, since the outcome may not be foreseen, and it is governed by rules that provide a level playing field for all participants. In its most basic form, play consists of finding a response to the opponent's action - or to the play situation - that is free within the limits set by the rules. Caillois qualifies types of games - according to whether competition, chance, simulation, or vertigo (being physically out of control) is dominant - and ways of playing, ranging from the unrestricted improvisation characteristic of children's play to the disciplined pursuit of solutions to gratuitously difficult puzzles. Caillois also examines the means by which games become part of daily life and ultimately contribute to various cultures their most characteristic customs and institutions. Presented here in Meyer Barash's superb English translation, "Man, Play and Games" is a companion volume to Caillois' "Man and the Sacred".

在被深深的怀疑所笼罩的某一历史时期，爱利克•埃里克森对那些曾滋养了某些纪元，而在其他纪元缺失的共同愿景的本质和结构进行了探究。从孩子的玩具世界到成人的梦想生活，从艺术家的想象到科学家的推理，他对人类关于游戏和愿景的倾向进行了说明。最后，他对一个具有普遍意义的共同愿景——美国梦的起源和结构进行了详细阐述。这种世界观既包括愿景，又包括反愿景，二者相互对抗，赋予了共同的现实以连贯的意义，并释放了个体和公共的力量。
埃里克森认为，由世界观所提供的时空定向是对个体心理的内在工作的一个恭维，适应了它的多种功能。在关键的一章中，作者通过描述日常生活中的仪式化的各个阶段，将世界观的系统发生学起源和个体发生学起源联系起来。他强调了仪式化对于个体发展与关键机构的维持之有趣和令人信服的力量。此外，他还指出了人类互动向自我欺骗和共谋发展，仪式化向仪式主义发展，愿景向噩梦发展的倾向。为了阐明与（在科技时代变得更加普遍和更加深刻的）世界观合作或对抗的意识或无意识动机，埃里克森呼吁跨学科的合作。