Will I love The Glass Bead Game?

Is it a Bildungsroman? Not exactly. Is it a moral or philosophical treatise? Sort of. Is it a political discourse? Occasionally. I've read this book before (back in college) and it was a very different experience re-reading it. When you're young, the first half of the book is compelling. When you're older, it's the second half that resonates the most.

I read this book as a student and immediately wanted to become a master of the Glass Bead Game. The trouble is that it’s not totally clear how to play this futuristic game. Players are expected to synthesize themes from music, mathematics, history, linguistics, philosophy, and art, which are woven together almost like a story as the game proceeds.

Ever since reading the book, I have aspired to practice this interdisciplinary approach to culture. You could say my own books are my latest moves in the Glass Bead Game. 

The first three books contributed to the development of new categorical notions for our MES theory. Our fourth book takes a different turn, narrating the tale of an austere order of intellectuals secluded in Castalia, where they essentially engage in the cultivation and play of the Glass Bead Game. This game represents an abstract synthesis of all arts and sciences, stimulating creativity.

From what is said about the rules of the game, and in terms of Margareth Boden (well known for her research on creativity and A.I. ), this game satisfies Boden’s rules for combinatory and exploratory creativity but not… show more.

I am a big fan of Herman Hesse, and this is the one book of his that had escaped me, regarded by many as his masterpiece.

This is a really strange book, unusual for Hesse to be writing about the future, as most of his work is set in the medieval period or at least before WWI. It’s not a typical sci-fi read, having philosophical and alchemical undertones, but it is indeed a masterpiece, although a rather challenging piece of fiction.

This book describes a fictional coming of age in which a child starts to question the assumptions made by the adults around them – in this case the value of the Glass Bead Game of the title.

It is a brilliant piece of writing – so brilliant that it won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It not only (gloriously) chronicles the boy’s awakening, it also raises deeper questions about how society should be structured, and in particular whether it is right to support an elite who contribute little to the welfare of others.