Johan Huizinga: Homo Ludens
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture, from the back cover: “[The writer] assembles and interprets one of the most fundamental elements of human culture: the instinct for play. Reading this volume, one suddenly discovers how profoundly the achievements in law, science, poverty, war, philosophy, and in the arts, are nourished by the instinct of play.” (Via Alf Rehn.)