Search  for anything...
NA

Playground: A Novel

  • Based on 6,121 reviews
Condition: New
Checking for the best price...
$22.68 Why this price?
Save $7.31 was $29.99

Buy Now, Pay Later

As low as $5 / mo
  • – 4-month term
  • – No impact on credit
  • – Instant approval decision
  • – Secure and straightforward checkout

Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout.

Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, PayTomorrow, Affirm, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and PayPal. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.

Learn more about financing & leasing here.

Free shipping on this product

30-day refund/replacement

To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.

Availability: In Stock.
Fulfilled by Amazon
Arrives Tuesday, Aug 12
Order within 9 hours and 34 minutes
Available payment plans shown during checkout

Recently Viewed

Description

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.Four lives are drawn together in a sweeping, panoramic new novel from Richard Powers, showcasing the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory at the height of his skills. Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.Set in the world’s largest ocean, this awe-filled book explores that last wild place we have yet to colonize in a still-unfolding oceanic game, and interweaves beautiful writing, rich characterization, profound themes of technology and the environment, and a deep exploration of our shared humanity in a way only Richard Powers can. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company


Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 24, 2024


Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1324086033


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 31


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.48 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #8,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #8 in Political Fiction (Books) #35 in Friendship Fiction (Books) #187 in Literary Fiction (Books)


Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Tuesday, Aug 12

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.

View our full returns policy here.

  • Klarna Financing
  • Affirm Pay in 4
  • Affirm Financing
  • Afterpay Financing
  • PayTomorrow Financing
  • Financing through Apple Pay
Leasing options through Acima may also be available during checkout.

Learn more about financing & leasing here.

Similar Products

Top Amazon Reviews

    • Beautiful writing!!
When I finish a book and can't stop thinking about it, I know I have read something special. The theme is life. Beautiful descriptions of the ocean and its inhabitants along with a good study of human character. Of course, the potential impact of the trashing of the oceans coupled with the potential power of AI is so relevant. Don't be discouraged at the beginning of the book... keep reading because it is well worth it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2025 by Still Reading
    • Great book with a terrible ending
I greatly enjoyed reading the first 98% of Playground. Its descriptions of oceanic life, the development of a social media platform leading to AI, and the lives of its main characters are all fascinating, wonderful, and fun reading. The trick the author plays at the end, however, is basically unforgiveable, in which the mysterious inconsistencies of the story finally come together in a silly and unbelievable way. Despite this, the book is worth reading for its narration around some important and interesting ideas in an educational and entertaining fashion. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2025 by Robert E. Feder
    • Another Powers Triumph
"I have a story to tell, the story of my friend and me and how we changed the future of mankind." [p. 137] "I asked you for a bedtime story, and you've conjured up a world so palpable that I mistake your characters for the people they once were." [p. 372] Who wrote this book? The author named on the cover and the copyright page is Richard Powers. But there is another author implied, and to grasp that is to make sense of some contradictions and chronological anomalies. There are two stories here. One has an omniscient narrator; the other is told by Todd Keane, a billionaire Facebook-like developer who is dictating his memoirs to an unnamed party as he faces his own decline from Lewy body dementia. Some of the same characters appear in both tales, but the one told by the omniscient narrator covers a broader scope. It is largely set on the French Polynesian island of Makatea, which relinquished its phosphate mining rights years ago to a company that left the island in tatters. Now, a new suitor has appeared -- a wealthy corporation that wants to use Makatea as a base for a "seasteading" operation, aiming to construct a floating city that will not need to answer much to any external political power. The 82 residents of Makatea must vote on whether to accept that proposal, which promises rebuilding and riches. Among Makatea's population are Rafi Young and Ina Aroita, who met as students at the University of Illinois. Rafi, a Black man, spent his childhood in a rough Chicago neighborhood; Ina, an artist, grew up in the South Pacific. They have adopted two orphaned children, and they seem to enjoy living away from the bustle of city life. Another island resident is Evelyne Beaulieu, a highly accomplished diver from Montreal, who once wrote a children's book extolling the wonders of the ocean. As a ten year-old, Todd Keane acquired Beaulieu's book, which he found enchanting. In times of stress, he imagined himself able to breathe under water, while walking from Illinois to Michigan via the bottom of the Great Lake. Todd came from a wealthy family in a North Shore suburb of Chicago. He was sent to an exclusive prep school, where he met Rafi, who was there by way of a scholarship endowed by Todd's father. Rafi was of a literary bent, in contrast to Todd's analytic mindset, but they bonded over chess, and -- later -- the ancient game of Go. The two of them ended up as roommates at the University of Illinois, where Todd had access to the university's powerful mainframe computer system, and Rafi studied literature. Eventually, Todd conceived the idea of an online platform that allowed participants to interact with one another; Rafi suggested that it could be improved by awarding points to players on the basis of their rated comments. The game, which came to be called Playground, evolved into a highly successful product that made Todd extremely rich. Rafi remained immersed in his literary endeavors, and the two eventually lost contact with each other, due in part to Todd's impulsive violation of Rafi's privacy concerning a tragic childhood episode. A review of _Playground_ doesn't really need to recapitulate the entirety of its (mainly complementary) stories. Powers produces many compelling, cinematic descriptions of underwater sea life, which may represent his attempt to convince readers that the deteriorating oceans are worth rescuing (i.e., an aquatic version of his earlier Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, _The Overstory_, which did the same for trees). His long-standing interest in computers is also prominent, nodding to current artificial intelligence projects such as ChatGPT, and sounding warnings about the future perils of AI. The book's final pages reconcile its two storylines, resolving a puzzle that must have been on the minds of readers up to that point. Powers' polymathic brilliance illuminates the entire work. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2024 by BluegrassPicker
    • The word “playground” means more than you think
“It excited [her] to learn that there were chapters in her own past that she had not yet experienced. At the same time, she was saddened to learn that she would never get to experience so many things from her own future.” (p349) At one level one could argue this is a very good “climate novel” (a genre of its own these days), and the book has a lot in common with the author’s spectacular “The Overstory”. But this is Richard Powers, so there’s much more to it than that. True to form, Powers delivers another emotionally and structurally complex opus. Let’s put it this way: the word “playground” in the book’s title means more than you might think. Powers takes us through the history and impact of information technology (especially AI and social media). He throws in colonization, grand-scale exploitation, art, dementia and mortality itself, and delivers plenty of sharp, thoughtful social commentary. At its heart, though, this is the story of the deeply personal journeys of a small number of profoundly interesting characters. Initially, several independent stories on multiple timelines compete for our attention. It’s a little disorienting at first. But as they come into focus, the stories begin to circle each other and then intersect. In fact they collide. The ending is poignant but enigmatic, building on a few puzzling developments that occur earlier in the story. You’ll end the way you started – somewhat disoriented. But you’ll see the somewhat surprising point of it all, and the journey will move you profoundly. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2024 by DJ
    • Planet Ocean
An astonishing description of our oceans and possible future of AI. Even my hero Sir David Attenborough agrees on the importance of our better understaning of our water world. As a scuba diver myself I so enjoyed the brilliant descriptions of this different dimension to our landbased existence. The description of the birth of the internet was fascinating and believable. So was the AI still to be discovered. Marianne Jordan ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2025 by Marianne Jordan
    • A long ride to nowhere
This novel was especially disappointing because we know the author is capable of so much more. The story touches on the issues of AI and environmental crisis, but it doesn't say anything new. The plot is thin, almost non-existent. The characters are passive and one-dimensional. It reads like a short story with a lot of filler. The book reminds us that the impact of AI is uncertain, and that Nature is important. But it doesn't go deeper than that. And the story is the life history of several unconnected people. But it's all past tense. We are never in the moment with them when decisions are made, so there is no sense of drama or suspense or hope or pain. Instead, it's a mellow recounting of nostalgia and regret. On a positive note, there is some beauty, some poetic language, some thoughtful contemplation. But it ultimately felt like a long ride to nowhere. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2025 by Richard C. Kelly

Can't find a product?

Find it on Amazon first, then paste the link below.
Checking for best price...