Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis (1964) - Eric Berne

Written by Eric Berne
Read by David Colacci
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Tantor Media
Release date: April 15, 2014
Duration: 06:34:14

Over 40 years ago, Games People Play revolutionized our understanding of what really goes on during our most basic social interactions. More than five million copies later, Dr. Eric Berne’s classic is as astonishing and revealing as it was on the day it was first published. We play games all the time—sexual games, marital games, power games with our bosses, and competitive games with our friends. Detailing status contests like “Martini” (I know a better way), to lethal couples combat like “If It Weren’t For You” and “Uproar,” to flirtation favorites like “The Stocking Game” and “Let’s You and Him Fight,” Dr. Berne exposes the secret ploys and unconscious maneuvers that rule our intimate lives. Explosive when it first appeared, Games People Play is now widely recognized as the most original and influential popular psychology book of our time. It’s as powerful and eye opening as ever.

Narrator David Colacci works miracles in bringing this 1964 psychological primer to life. Eric Berne’s classic says that to get payoffs, or “strokes,” we adopt the role of Child (helpless, victimized, demanding), Parent (judgmental, directive), or Adult (goal directed, adaptable, responsible).

The articulation of the “transactions” between these roles and their motivations were breakthrough insights in the 1960s, when academics and mental health professionals were eagerly fitting every facet of the human condition into tidy descriptions.

In today’s culture–emotionally enlightened and suspicious of intellectualization–Berne’s ideas sound dated, fussy, and mechanical. It is only Colacci’s warmth and fresh approach to this reissued work that make it possible to appreciate its historical value and glean some guidance from the busyness of these formulations. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Note the original price of this paperback.