Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

by Steven Johnson, George Newbern (Narrator)

From the New York Times bestselling author of How We Got to Nowand Where Good Ideas Come From, a look at the world-changing innovations we made while keeping ourselves entertained.

This lushly illustrated history of popular entertainment takes along-zoom approach, contending that the pursuit of novelty and wonder is a powerful driver of world-shaping technological change. Steven Johnson argues that, throughout history, the cutting edge of innovation lies wherever people are working the hardest to keep themselves and others amused.

Johnson's storytelling is just as delightful as the inventions he describes, full of surprising stops along the journey from simple concepts to complex modern systems. He introduces us to the colorful innovators of leisure: the explorers, proprietors, showmen, and artists who changed the trajectory of history with their luxurious wares, exotic meals, taverns, gambling tables, and magic shows.

Johnson compellingly argues that observers of technological and social trends should be looking for clues in novel amusements. You ll find the future wherever people are having the most fun. From the Hardcover edition."

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Technology, Audiobook, Psychology, Business

Audio CD

First published November 15, 2016

About the author

Steven Johnson is the bestselling author of twelve books, including Enemy of All Mankind, Farsighted, Wonderland, How We Got to Now, Where Good Ideas Come From, The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, and Everything Bad Is Good for You.
He's the host of the podcast American Innovations, and the host and co-creator of the PBS and BBC series How We Got to Now. Johnson lives in Marin County, California, and Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and three sons.

Reviews

[Mircea Petcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutia Industriala este vazuta de regula ca rezultanta unor forte precum inovatia tehnologica, crearea de noi institutii financiare si piete. Steven Johnson scoate in evidenta rolul jucat de moda si placere.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steven Johnson is one of my favorite authors (I even wrote this article making suggestions on where to start if you've never read him).

Wonderland is very similar to Johnson's previous book, How We Got to Now, which examined six innovations, clean, time, glass, light, cold, and sound that revolutionized the world. Wonderland takes a similar tact, this time examining how six amusements-fashion, music, taste, illusions, games, and public spaces-have had similar results. For example, the early fashion industry's desire for cotton was a precipitating cause of the slave trade, and people gathering in pubs led to many democratic revolutions.

Perhaps the most interesting anecdote for me was the description of Charles Darwin visiting a London Zoo. I've always thought Darwin's ideas arose primarily as a result of his voyages on the HMS Beagle, but it's clear this visit to the zoo was important as well. In fact there are several instances of famous scientists and innovators becoming entranced with a play thing early in their lives which subsequently inspired their work (e.g., Charles Babbage).

Another key point in the later chapters is relevant to autonomous systems designers. A key for humans learning, Johnson hypothesizes, is surprise. We love novelty because are brains are rewarded when we are surprised, and this surprise is the basis of all learning. In order to truly learn, autonomous systems must also have this capability of being able to be surprised.

[Gretchen Rubin]

An interesting exploration of how the human desire for play shapes culture. I've been thinking a lot about this, in relation to the senses. The things we've done for black pepper.

[Nelson Zagalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Wonderland" segue a fórmula criada por Steven Johnson nos seus livros anteriores, nomeadamente os mais recentes, dedicados ao historiar da ciência e criatividade — "The Invention of Air" (2008), "Where Good Ideas Come From" (2010) ou "How We Got to Now" (2014). Se retira o encanto de se ser surpreendido, não deixa de funcionar bem, as competências de Johnson enquanto contador de histórias são de grande excelência, ao que se acrescenta a quantidade de investigação e trabalho que coloca na feitura de cada livro que nos permite retirar muito da sua leitura. Neste novo livro Johnson deteve-se à volta de uma componente da atividade humana — o brincar — que continua a ser olhada como menor, procurando compreender o que nos conduz para essa atividade a partir de uma análise substancialmente rica sobre eventos imensamente relevantes da nossa história que não teriam acontecido sem a nossa vontade, desejo ou necessidade de brincar.

Ler a análise completa no VI em: https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/...

[Joseph Brigante · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me be very clear. My rating reflects my preference, not the quality of the book. This book has taught me about myself in that I am very interested in play as applies to games and gaming.

I will say I feel the use of the word "play" in the title is used extremely loosely. I personally do not consider a taste for spices to be "play." This is more an exploration of how the seeking of pleasure/novelty, not the push to have more of the necessities, drives much of innovation and exploration. The thesis does appear sound, it just wasn't what I expected or wanted.

There is plenty of fascinating information in here. It is definitely worth a read for lots of people. But just go into it thinking it will be about finding/making wonderful things, not play.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book more. At times it was very interesting and at others it seemed Johnson was working very hard to connect his topics back to the original concept of the book and it made the reading very tedious. There were some very clear instances of innovation born from the human desire for entertainment, but the majority of the connections felt forced and almost shoehorned in to make a point. I learned a few interesting things, so it wasn't a waste. I was just so excited about the book that it was a let down in the end.

[Daniel Afloarei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hai sa nu mai fugim de latura noastra ludica si sa o lasam sa ne indrume catre revelatii.

Restul recenziei aici:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjdh...

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderland : How Play Made the Modern World (2016) by Steven Johnson is an interesting read about the impact of how luxuries and amusements have had on history. Johnson wrote a superb book called 'How we got to now' that had a limited number of key inventions that he says lead to the modern world. Wonderland is similarly constructed.

The book looks at shopping, music, taste, illusion, games and public space. The chapter on shopping looks at how the development of shopping fed growth. When looking at music the fact that humans like music and the importance of automatic players is described. Taste concentrates on the importance of the spice trade. Illusion looks at spiritual shows and finally Disney. Games looks at Chess and early computer games. Public space describes pubs and other public spaces.

Johnson is a fine writer and a lot of the information in the book is fascinating. His descriptions of the mechanical works of Iranian engineers is amazing. However, the book is undermined in that the main thesis running through it is oversold. The book is worth reading for a well written and interesting diversion though.

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting series of essays, and reminded me fondly of James Burke's Connections. More about seeking novelty than "play", it was nonetheless an enjoyable work - I like it.

I loved the writing style, especially in combination with the subject material. Very intelligent, and makes connections others have missed, providing more than enough information. And yet...

It took me a few weeks to read this, and this with a few weeks of travel and no other commitments. I found my mind wandering, and not just because of the time zones flying by under the wings. It felt at times as if the author had more enthusiasm than I did for a particular subject, and the writing wasn't pulling me in.

I'd like to read more from this Steven Johnson fellow, to be sure. I see in Google there are podcasts and an NPR essay related to this book. Maybe in the end a reread will end up with a higher rating, but for me and this situation, 3 out of 5 stars is the best I can do.

[Kin · Rating 4 out of 5]

เขียนเก่ง เกร็ดเยอะ แปลดี อ่านสนุก แต่ละบทมันอาจจะดูไม่ได้สอดคล้องกับชื่อเรื่องขนาดนั้น อาจจะเรียกได้ว่าเป็นประวัติศาสตร์โลกผ่านเรื่องที่ "ดูไม่เป็นเรื่อง" มากกว่า

[Jovi Ene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vă dați seama că multe dintre invențiile și realizările umane din ultimele secole sau milenii au pornit din joacă sau din pură întâmplare?
Ei bine, dacă nu, veți afla acest lucru din această carte dinamică, ce explică în mai multe capitole (Modă și cumpărături, Muzică, Gustul, Iluzia, Jocuri, Spațiul public) modul în care lumea modernă s-a inventat. Nenumărate exemple interesante: jocul de șah sau Monopoly, magazinele cu vitrine, mall-ul, cârciuma, cafeneaua, polițele de asigurare, roboții, cauciucul, mirodeniile etc.
O carte foarte instructivă, care ne induce ideea că știința nu-i așa de complicată pe cât credem.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable and informative. Highly recommended.

[Irina Subredu · Rating 4 out of 5]

o carte de aproape 5. not an easy read. dar îți deschide larg fereastra spre o înțelegere diferită a felului în care am ajuns aici, unde suntem acum.

[Thammalux Chaopanon · Rating 3 out of 5]

ให้มุมมองของการมองประวัติศาสตรืที่เกิดขึ้นผ่านช่องทางต่างๆ ให้เห็นว่ายังมีมิติอื่นๆที่น่าสนใจและอาจเกี่ยวข้องแบบไม่ตรงไปตรงมา

แต่ที่พยายามเชื่อมโยงการละเล่นกับการเปลี่ยนแปลงของโลกที่เกิดขึ้น ตามความเห็นก็คงไม่ได้เชื่อมโยงกันในแบบที่หนังสือนำเสนอ ดูจะห่างกันจนไม่น่าจะเป็นการเปลี่ยนแปลงที่เกิดจากการละเล่นตามที่นำเสนอครับ

แต่ถ้าเป็นในเรื่องสถานที่ส่วนกลางนำเสนอได้ดี เป็นสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นจริง

[Zulfiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about the book. First off, let's start with positive ones.
1. The concept is truly fascinating - the author attempts to explore how hobbies, fun, and entertainment changed the world in the most unusual and beneficial world.
2. The writing is light, intelligent, and most time quite approachable.

Alas, the book also has earned some minors miffs as well.
1. Sometimes the author was so much enthused about the topic that I found the book meandering and off topic. It might be just me because I was listening to the book during my commutes, but I truly found some passages quite entertaining but so off the mark.
2. Occasionally the book did not flow or some parts had better flow than others. Yet again, it might be the reader's fault as I found some passages more appealing than others.

Overall, I still think that I enjoyed the book for the most part, and it does deserve " liked it" rating.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating book! I'm not usually a non-fiction reader, and while at first, I found the introduction and first part dense, I gradually acclimated to Johnson's more academic writing style, and I feel as if I gleaned a lot from this book.
It was great to see a new perspective on innovation and what newness and ingenuity are fuelled by, and the ripple effect of innovations that we may otherwise see as mundane. It was great how Johnson intersected with and compounded ideas within the history of science, like the great man theory.

[Suwitcha Chandhorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

ว่าด้วยประวัติศาสตร์ของเรื่องเล่น ที่กลับกลายเป็นปัจจัยสำคัญซึ่งผลักดันให้โลกเรานี้เปลี่ยนแปลงไป ในเล่มมีเรื่องสนุก ๆ มากมายและสำนวนก็ไหลไปเรื่อย ๆ ตั้งแต่ต้นจนจบ อ่านเพลินดี ใครจะว่าผู้แต่งโยงเก่ง เราก็เห็นด้วยนะ แต่ในแง่การทำการบ้านเพื่อประกอบร่างเนื้อหาให้น่าเชื่อถือ เราก็ควรให้เครดิตเขา (ดูได้จาก references อันยาวยืด) เป็นอีกเล่มที่ชอบมาก :)

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed Steven Johnson’s other books, so it’s no surprise that this one delivered as well. He weaves together historical threads that you wouldn’t think fit together and yet they do. I was fascinated from beginning to end and would recommend this book to anyone who wants a historical explanation for why we play the way we do.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this as my non-fiction book about technology for the Read Harder Challenge. Wasn't sure I really wanted to read a tech book, but this was so fantastic! I loved learning about how certain innovations have changed the whole course of human history.

[Mike Wenzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. It tells so many wonderful stories. It outlines how wonder, fun, novelty, and amusement have shaped and created the world we live in. If you are interested in the deeper reality of the world, history, or good stories, I highly recommend this book.

[Rachel Swisher Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and thought-provoking cultural and technological history. Another great read from Steven Johnson.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at how not just play, but The desire for leisure and luxury as well have contributed to the shaping of many things today.

[Leslie Fitzwater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly fascinating contemplation of how the pursuit of delight and play have helped mold the modern world. I didn't always agree with the conclusions the author drew, but I deeply appreciated the discussion.

[Tyler Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content was cool but the premise seemed flawed. Reminds me of high school papers when I'd come up with the thesis and then try to find evidence to support it, instead of vis versa

Regardless, the technologies and stories were compelling, fun and well written

[Youghourta · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب مُفيد، يُعالج موضوع "اللهو" وكيف أن اللهو كان السبب الرئيس وراء العديد من الاختراعات والتقدم العلمي والحضاري الذي نشهده الآن.
يُمكن تلخيص الكتاب في التالي: إن كانت الحاجة هي أم الاختراع كما يُقال، فإن اللهو هو أبوها، أو على الأقل أحد أقربائها. ما يهدف الكتاب إليه هو إيصال فكرة أن الكثير من الاختراعات وحتى العلوم التي نعتمد عليها الآن بشكل أساسي كانت في السّابق مُجرّد لهو ولعب، ما لبث أن تطوّر حتى أصبح أحد أساسيات الحياة.

الكتاب يتركّز حول فكرة في غاية الأهمية، وبدأ بداية قوّية جدًا، فمقدّمة الكتاب تأخذنا إلى بغداد وإلى دار الحكمة، وإلى بني موسى وخاصة كتابهم الأكثر شهرة "كتاب الحِيل" والتي يُعتبر من أوائل ما أٌلِّف في علم الميكانيكا (أو الحِيل) والذي احتوى تفاصيل بناء نحو 100 آلة ميكانيكية. إلى أن باقي الفصول لم ترقَ إلى قوة المُقدّمة ولم يُعط للفكرة كامل حقّها، رغم ذلك ستخرج -بعد الفراغ من قراءة الكتاب- بنظرة مُختلفة عن ما يُعتبر لهوًا، فلهو اليوم هو تكنولوجيا المُستقبل وربما حتى أحد ركائزه الاقتصادية.
الكتاب يعتمد نفس أسلوب كتاب "كيف وصلنا إلى هنا" والذي يستعرض تاريخ 6 مجالات (الزّجاج، التبريد، الصوت، النظافة، الوقت والزّمن)، كيف تطوّرت، كيف أثّرت الاختراعات في كل من هذه المجالات بطرق ربما لم يسبق لها أن خطرت على بالك على مجالات أخرى، وكيف تؤثّر الاختراعات بشكل سلبي أو إيجابي على مُختلف نواحي الحياة. يُمكن الاطّلاع على مُراجعتي له من هنا:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

من بين الأفكار التي استعرضها الكتاب:
- علم الإحصاءات لم يظهر للوجود إلا بعد أن اهتم مؤسّسوه بألعاب الحظ ورغبتهم في دراسة حُظوظهم في ألعاب القمار التي كانوا يُمارسونها.
- أول جهاز قابل للبرمجة لم تكن آلة تشالرز بابيج كما هو مُتعارف عليه بل هي "الآلة التي تزمّر بنفسها" التي بناها بنو موسى والتي هي عبارة عن آلة قابلة للبرمجة، وتزمّر (أي تعزف على المزمار) من تلقاء نفسها بناء على المقطوعة الموسيقية (البرنامج) التي توضع فيها.
- لعبت الموسيقى والآلات الموسيقية دورًا كبيرًا في تطوّر العديد من المجالات وظهور العديد من الاختراعات، فعلى سبيل المثال، لوحة المفاتيح التي أكتب هذه المُراجعة من خلالها لم تكن لتظهر لولا تطوير لوحات المفاتيح الخاصة بالعديد من الآلات الموسيقية
- تطور العلوم والمعارف البشرية لا يتّبع دائمًا حاجة البشر إلى تلك العلوم والمعارف، حيث يُشير الكتاب إلى وجود العديد من الآثار القديمة لآلات موسيقية (مزامير بشكل أساسي) تعود إلى حقبة سبقت ظهور العديد من الأدوات التي يحتاجها الإنسان في حياته اليومية. كما أن سكان أمريكا الأصليون توصّلوا إلى تصنيع الكرات من المطّاط، وهي الكرات التي كانت تُستخدم للهو واللعب، في حين أنهم لم يتوصّلوا إلى فكرة "العجلة" التي كانت لتفيدهم بشكل أكبر.
- العديد من الرحلات الاستكشافية القديمة لم تكن بسبب الحاجة إلى أمور أساسية أو ضرورية لحياة الإنسان، بقدر ما كانت رحلات هدفها تحصيل بعضًا مما يُعتبر ترفًا، كالحصول على القطن واللون الأرجواني (المُستخرج من نوع مُعيّن من الحلازين) أو حتى مُختلف التوابل والنُكهات.
- لعبة الحانات والمقاهي دورًا كبيرًا في تطّور النظريات والآراء السياسية الحديثة، حيث سمحت لمُختلف طبقات المجتمع بالاجتماع وتبادل الأفكار في مكان عام، كما عرفت نشوء العديد من الحركات المُجتمعية والأحزاب السياسية في هذه الأماكن المُخصّصة للهو.

الكتاب مُفيد من حيث أنه سيعطيك نظرة مُختلفة عن اللهو بشكل عام، وسيغيّر نظرتك للعديد من التقنيات التي كنت تنظر إليها على أنها مجرّد ألعاب. لم يتم ذكر ذلك في الكتاب، لكن نظرتي إلى بعض التقنيات تغيّرت بعد قراءة هذا الكتاب وخاصة ما تعلّق منها بالواقع المُعزّز و الواقع الافتراضي.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderland is a book by an author that I have enjoyed in the past so I was really looking forward to this book. And I enjoyed it, but I can't help feeling a bit misled by the subtitle and the synopsis inside the front cover. One chapter focused on toys and games, the other chapters described other non-essential activities that had an impact on other more essential inventions or discoveries. It would have been more accurate for the subtitle to be "How Our Search for Pleasure Made the Modern World." Apart from that, though, it is a fascinating book following early inventions developed long ago and tracing their evolution through history to become something essential or at least very important in the modern world.

[Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, although the title is misleading. Only the introduction has an in-depth analysis/discussion on how play created innovation, linking early automatons with Babbage's invention of the difference engine. The subsequent book chapters are variations on how connections can lead to various discoveries. This is similar to the old PBS show "Connections". Well worth the read, though, for anyone interested in how serendipity can play in innovation.

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those of us of a certain age who grew up in a British focused world might remember a 1970s TV show hosted by James Burke called Connections that was a history of science and technology exploring the ways ideas developed and the technology and practices that grew from and shaped those developments. I recall, while in high school, being wowed at the way he built links between seemingly random ideas, discoveries, inventions and their consequences. It taught me an enormous amount about doing history, about cultural change and about serendipity (and accident). Steven Johnson’s engaging Wonderland does a similar thing to construct a cultural history of many of the cultural practices we take for granted.

I’m impressed by his connection-building skills. In outlining this set of stories he finds associations between Phoenician sailors venturing out of the Mediterranean, past the Pillars of Hercules, to be among the first the sail the Atlantic Ocean in search of purple dye producing molluscs, display windows in late 17th century London, a shopping mall in Minnesota and the EPCOT project in Florida. It is creative, convincing and compelling, suggesting new ways to think about and understand our cultural and technological worlds. Many of the individual case and stories I knew – Heddy Lamar’s role in developing WiFi technology, séances and the commercial display of ghostly phenomena as factors influencing Freud, the Walt Disney Studio’s technological developments for Snow White and more – but I hadn’t even thought to put them together in this way to explore the development off visual technologies and our understanding of visual spectacle. Equally, the link between Meso-American rubber balls and Columbus to Lizzie Magie’s development of The Landlord Game (which became Monopoly) as a way to teach socialist political economy was not one I’d made (and that is my patch). The narrative development in each chapter is rich and informative, and as such compelling cultural history.

Despite all that, I have a problem with the claims made for the book as an investigation of ‘play’ (which, as an academic publishing in that area, irk me). ‘Play’ here is used in far too loose a way to be helpful or informative. It looks as if he is using ‘play’ to mean entertainment – many of his originary point, the places his stories begin, are about leisure, entertainment and pleasure. This is one way we might understand ‘play’, but it doesn’t necessarily get to the self-contained, immersive sense that we’d usually understand play to be – it just seems to say that it is not work, which is a weak marker. What’s more, he seems to miss the role of ‘playfulness’ in many of the inventions and developments he discusses – while regularly making the point the times of play are times of inventiveness, he doesn’t show how the inventions he discusses might also rely on a playful approach to problems and issues. That is to say, Johnson finishes up trivialising ‘play’ in a book where he trying to celebrate it: it becomes a phenomenon of fun and pleasure that leads to the serious stuff of commerce, public space and artificial intelligence. The really annoying thing is I don’t think he meant to do that.

This is an engaging and entertaining, accessible and informative piece of cultural history that I can and will use for teaching because it will take my students places that they’d never thought of and unsettle some of their taken for granted assumptions about their world. It is a really good way explore the development of ideas and practices and is a worthy addition to my James Burke driven delight in the weirdness of intellectual developments. But it is a poor book about ‘play’ because it uses the notion in a lazy way. Read, it, enjoy it, but see play differently.

[r · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Because play is often about breaking rules and experimenting with new conventions, it turns out to be the seedbed for many innovations that ultimately develop into much sturdier and more significant forms."

"The institutions of society that so dominate traditional history-political bodies, corporations, religions can tell you quite a bit about the current state of the social order. But you are trying to figure out what's coming next, you are often better off exploring the margins of play: the hobbies and curiosity pieces and subcultures of human beings devising new ways to have fun."

"You will find the future wherever people are having the most fun."

"Music was among the first activities to be encoded, the first to be automated, the first to be programmed, the first to be digitized as a commercial product, the first to be distributed via peer-to-peer networks."

"It is is worth pausing for a moment to contemplate how many key developments and customs—many of which persist to this day—have spices at their origin: international trade, imperialism, the seafaring discoveries of Columbus and da Gama, the fall of Rome, joint-stock corporations, the enduring beauty of Venice and Amsterdam, global Islam, even the multicultural flavor of Doritos. Having a taste for spice is not just one of the luxuries that the modern world affords us; having a taste for spice is, in part, why we have a modern world in the first place."

"New technologies or forms of popular entertainment change the world in direct ways: creating new industries, enabling new forms of leisure or escapism, sometimes creating new forms of oppression or physical harm to the environment. But they also change the world in more conceptual ways. Every significant emergent technology inevitably enters the world of language as a new metaphor, a way of framing or illuminating some aspect of reality that was harder to grasp before the metaphor began to circulate."

"Art is the aftershock of technological plates shifting."

"There seems to be a deep-seated human interest in chance and randomness, manifest in these intricate game pieces that have survived millennia, still recognizable to the modern eye. To play a game of chance is, in a sense, to rehearse for the randomness that everyday life presents, particularly in a prescientific world where basic circuits and patterns in nature had not yet been perceived."

"In some coffeehouses, the threads of our history of play converged. Lloyd's Coffeehouse catered to the maritime community, ultimately evolving into the insurance giant Lloyd's of London. Born in a coffeehouse, the modern insurance business used the mathematics of probability invented by dice players to make it financially viable to send ships around the world in search of fashionable new fabrics like calico and chintz."

"Las Vegas, a town that had a population of ninety-six people just a century ago, has been the fastest-growing city in the United States over the past decade."

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally picked this book up off my shelf for a reading challenge category 'performing arts.' I vaguely glanced at the cover - which looks like a stage - saw the word 'play,' and figured it was about plays. As in, theatre performances that involve actors. I was both surprised and not a little bit annoyed when I got through the introduction and found that this was about playing. As in, things humans do because it's entertaining, amusing, or otherwise not necessary for survival, but I finished out the book anyway.

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World is an interesting examination of how things not strictly necessary for survival have often been at the root of many things that have shaped the modern world. It is an interesting take history and science, often tracing things back to their non-commercial beginnings, though one I'm not going to place much stock in. In previous books, Johnson has made a nasty habit of ignoring bits that he doesn't like and would change the arc of narrative, so I have since become wary of him as a nonfiction author. He never makes mistakes per se; it's never him getting something outright incorrect (like getting dates wrong or something), it's that he tends to leave things out and he does it here, too. For example, he makes the argument that that play is unique to humans and goes on at length to argue that it a major difference between humans and other animals. But here's the thing: other animals do play. Play is, for example, well documented other mammals (such as elephants and other primates) and even birds (such as crows). To claim that play is unique to humans ignores a variety of documented behavior and to claim that it marks a major divider between humans and other animals fallacy of the greatest kind. And it's not like this is an old book where the lack of acknowledgement of non-human play might be the result of it being published before such information was known or widely available, because that happens and it's unreasonable to hold authors responsible for information they could not have known. But this information was known and is easily available, leading me to believe that the author left it out because it undermined an already established viewpoint or argument, and that's just not good nonfiction.

All in all, while Wonderland had some interesting points, it is a book that I am unlikely to reread and would not recommend.