Leisure (1982)

For all those interested in leisure as an intriguing area of study or an enrichment of their own lives… as well as for those interested in making some aspect of leisure provision their life work or in developing some public or commercial leisure service – this book raises the most important issues while engaging the reader in what is known and yet to be discovered about the human phenomenon of leisure. Based on the developing body of knowledge in leisure studies, this book: includes history, philosophy, and contemporary investigation; integrates the discoveries of historians, philosophers, economists, sociologists, political scientists, and psychologists; provides shape and structure to this field of knowledge. Analysis of the issues is based on personal interpretations of leisure from a wide variety of people and from quantitative surveys and government reports. The author approaches this subject with the view that leisure is a central element of being human. He contends that it is neither peripheral nor seperate from the full context of life’s meanings and relationships. Leisure may, in fact, be crucial to personal and social development and to our concepts of ourselves and our world.