Dr. Brian Sutton-Smith, Professor of Play

Just about the most fascinating thinker and writer and historian of children's play and its implications in child and brain development ever! His papers have been donated to the National Museum of Play/Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play at the Strong Museum in Rochester NY. In his book, The Ambiguity of Play [1997 Harvard Univ. Press], he focuses on play's "quirkiness, redundancy and flexibility suggesting that play might provide a model of the variability that allows for natural selection. As a form of mental feedback, play might nullify the rigidity that sets in after successful adaptation, thus reinforcing animal and human variability."  This sweeping theory is an incredible contribution to human development, neuroscience and an understanding of the human condition. ~ Barbara Carder