With all of my free time on this ship, I have slipped into the pleasant habit of reading quite a bit. I find that on a ship of thousands of people, finding somewhere quiet to read is one of the most restful and relaxing activities available to me, and happily there is not only a bookshelf from which to borrow books for crew in the staff mess, but we can also take books from the passenger library which has a much larger selection. Being a sucker for psychological self-help type books, I took out a book called "Play" a few weeks ago, and have just finished it, and decided to inflict my thoughts upon this blog.

Play, as defined by author Stuart Brown, is one of the most defining attributes of human beings, and is what likely has put us so far ahead of any other species on earth. Play and learning go hand in hand - hence infants and children who are learning at the quickest rate do so by playing and exploring to the greatest extent. As centuries go by, humans have started to extend this period of play and learning for longer and longer, and this has been a great asset to us, and has led to the varied achievements of technology, art, culture and more that we have attained. 

Brown talks about how most animals grow new nerve connections extensively only during their juvenile period. When their period of play stops, their brains effectively stop growing. 

The reason that animals stop playing is that eventually the benefits of learning and growing smarter are outweighed by the inherent dangers of play, such as its distraction from other critical activities like protecting the young, finding food and shelter, etc. Eventually they reach a point where they descend into narrower, more compulsive behaviour patterns. 

This is not as much the case with the most intelligent types of animals, such as dogs and dolphins. Both of these animals are extremely playful for most of their lives, and are thus always learning and reaching new levels of mental sophistication.

Brown makes a comparison between dogs and wolves. Wolf and dog pups are very similar when they are still young, but as they grow they start to become very distinct. Dogs, which have been bred to coexist with humans, have a much more fluid and flexible social structure, are more adaptable to strangers and new situations, and are obviously much more playful. Wolves on the other hand have a rigid hierarchal system, are generally hostile to strangers, and as they grow up lose most of their early playful nature. 

Of course, in the wild, this is to the benefit of wolves, and most domestic dogs would not last long in such conditions. But since dogs are given the luxury of a relatively safe environment to grow within, they are free to explore, play, and learn throughout their lives. 

Humans have stretched the juvenile period longer than any other species - to 15 years at least, and usually much longer For people who are well adjusted and who are safe, play can prompt continued neurogenesis throughout our entire lives.

So, on to Brown's description of play. As a general guideline, he says to look for the following characteristics in play: 

Apparently purposeless ( done for it's own sake), 

Voluntary

Inherent attraction

Freedom from time

 Diminished consciousness of self

Improvisational potential

and Continuation desire (we want to keep doing it).

The Benefits of play according to Brown are that it provides a safe environment within which we can explore and evolve social boundaries, and also puts us in a frame of mind where we are opening ourselves up to new possibilities, or thinking outside the box. In the words of animal play scholar Bob Fagen, "In a world continuously presenting unique challenges and ambiguity, play prepares [animals] for an evolving planet."

In a nutshell, the idea I found the most captivating of this book is that the activities that you are drawn to the most for their own pure pleasure to you are the activities that your mind already knows will stimulate the most brain growth and learning. There are some obvious limits to this, but to simplify, the notion of pursuing your passions and hoping for the best has been given a new degree of merit.

The important thing that he stresses throughout the book is that you don't want to look for anything productive in the play activity - the need to be productive is an unfortunate thing that our modern society has imposed upon us, driving us to feel guilty about the idea of doing something just for the sake of enjoyment. The fact is that in the most seemingly trivial and impractical of play activities your brain is being activated and making new neural connections, filling in gaps and preparing you for life's challenges in ways that we are only just beginning to understand. Enjoyment of play activities is not an arbitrary neurological phenomena, but is rather our brain's way of trying to steer us into activities that will stimulate it's own growth. 

A playful attitude also lends resilience to life's challenges, and a sense of irony and humour helps us to deal with failures and unexpected circumstances without taking ourselves too seriously.

One other thing to keep in mind is that anything at all can be a play activity, it just depends on the individual person's perception of it.

Anyways, that's all for now. Next up is "A Tale of Two Cities" - this will take me just a little bit longer.....