Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World

On the surface, play seems to be a waste of time. People are engaging in mere "unproductive" activity. Why would people do that? There are some basic benefits individual and social benefits that occur to the participants. But what about to society? It turns out that many societal advances have their roots in play.

Video games have existed since the first time a computer had a screen. Many have learned programming skills to create games. Computer technology has also significantly advanced to meet the needs of gamers. These gaming advances have turned around been utilized for other more "practical" pursuits. The adoption of computers and advancements of technology would have proceeded at a much slower pace if not for games.

Rubber was first used by Native Americans to create a bouncing ball for a game. This substance was adopted to tires and other sources. (Vulcanization was a key part here - but Native Americans had already discovered that.) Fashion and shopping was a leisure activity. The colored cotton fabrics had a "play" benefit. This led to large scale cotton plantations (and the growth of slavery) in the new world.

Our built up environment has been heavily influenced by the desire for play. Shopping malls provide for leisure. They were originally created as part of a full city plan. Alas, all the other good aspects never quite made it. Epcot was also envisioned as a full city - only to be transferred to an amusement park.

Many other forms of leisure have led to future innovations. Different forms of entertainment shows have served as the basis for future technology advance. While I was expecting a more narrow focus of modern "games", the author throws a much wider net of different forms of entertainment throughout history. From this catch, he has picked a number of interesting stories to describe in detail.