Playground by Richard Powers

Playground by Richard Powers

New York Times Bestseller

Finalist for the 2024 Kirkus Prize
Longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize

As Seen on CBS Saturday Morning • A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • One of the Ten Best Books of 2024, according to the Washington Post and AARP • A Time Must-Read Book of 2024 • One of NPR's "Books We Love" for 2024 • An Economist, The New Yorker, and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2024 • Selected as Fall 2024 "Fiction to Read" by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, People, and Parade

A magisterial new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory and Bewilderment.

"A characterful, capacious and engaging novel, distilling subjects as diverse as oceanography, climate change, the legacies of colonialism and the arc of a lifelong friendship into an exhilaratingly entangled narrative in which Powers’ unparalleled gifts for revealing the magic and mystery of the natural world are on full display" -- The 2024 Booker Prize Judges
"History unspools in this luminous journey that interweaves a 3,000-year-old board game, AI and floating cities.…all-around delightful." -- People
"Vivid and ambitious…a love letter to the natural world.…Playground is ravishing in its descriptions of an underwater universe as fragile as it is ancient and unyielding." -- Taylor Antrim - Vogue
"Compelling, with fine writing on friendship and its loss and on the awe and delight the ocean inspires.... An engaging, eloquent message for this fragile planet." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Evocatively nuanced.... Rhapsodic with wonder, electric with cautionary facts and insights, Powers' profound and involving novel illuminates the conundrums of human nature." -- Booklist, starred review
"An epic drama of AI, neocolonialism, and oceanography ... dazzling. ... [T]he elegance of [Powers’s] prose, the scope of his ambition, and the exacting reverence with which he writes about the imperiled world serve as reminders of why he ranks among America’s foremost novelists. ... Readers will be awed." -- Publishers Weekly
"A novel of spectacular thematic scope and surreal drama… The author's genius shows in his formidable descriptive talents and the graceful clarity of his densely woven plot… Powers meticulously sets the stage with vivid, immersive details to ignite the readers imagination." -- Shahina Piyarali - Shelf Awareness
"Is there anything Richard Powers cannot write? The world here is complete, seductive, and promising. The writing feels like the ocean. Vast, mysterious, deep, and alive." -- Percival Everett
"An extraordinarily immersive journey through lives linked in mysterious ways—gripping, alarming, and uplifting." -- Emma Donoghue
"Powers is a master of taking important topics of our times—from threats to our oceans and climate change to AI—and turning them into riveting and fiercely relevant books imbued with psychological insight and a deep awe for nature. This eloquent dance of the scientific and emotional makes him one of our finest storytellers. Playground is brilliant, captivating, and important—and the best book I’ve read this year." -- Andrea Wulf

Richard Powers is the author of fourteen novels, including The Overstory, Bewilderment, and Orfeo. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award. He lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781324086031
ISBN 10	1324086033
Title	Playground
Author	Richard Powers
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	WW Norton & Co
Year published	2024-09-24
Number of pages	400
Prizes	Short-listed for Kirkus Prize 2024, Long-listed for Booker Prize 2024
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.