The 'bible' for dice living -- for everyone who has been inspired by the cult classic THE DICE MAN. From the author of the cult bestsellers THE DICE MAN and SEARCH FOR THE DICE MAN comes a new book, guaranteed to appeal to the hundreds of thousands of people who continue to be fascinated by the thought of 'living by the dice'. Luke Rhinehart, after a long period of silence, has delivered a playful book of parables, essays, thoughts, ideas and practical instructions and reminsces on dice-ing that is designed to be dipped into for thoughts and views on dice living. It is a 'handbook', a reference 'bible', for the hundreds of thousands of people who turn to the dice to shake up convention and taking risks and chances. It will be a 'must' for Rhinehart's thousands of devoted followers.
Luke Rhinehart was the pen name of the author George Cockcroft.
He was born in the United States, son of an engineer and a civil servant. He received a BA from Cornell University and an MA from Columbia University. Subsequently he received a PhD in psychology, also from Columbia. He married his wife, Ann, on June 30, 1956. He has three children.
After obtaining his PhD, he went into teaching. During his years as a university teacher he taught, among other things, courses in Zen and Western literature. He first floated the idea of living according to the casting of dice in a lecture. The reaction was reportedly of equal parts intrigue and disgust, and it was at this point he realized it could become a novel. Cockcroft began experimenting with dice a long time before writing The Dice Man, but this made progress on the novel rather slow.
In 1971, London-based publisher, Talmy Franklin, published The Dice Man, Cockcroft's first novel as Luke Rhinehart. Soon afterwards, Cockcroft was engaged in the creation of a dice center in New York City.
In 1975, he was involved in a round-the-world voyage in a large trimaran ketch. Later, he spent some time in a sailboat in the Mediterranean, where he taught English and from there moved to a former Sufi retreat on the edge of a lake in Canaan, New York.
On 1 August 2012, at the age of 80, Cockcroft arranged for his own death to be announced, as a joke.
Cockcroft passed away (for real) at the age of 87 on November 6. 2020.
I wouldn't say that this was a handbook for dice-living as it is touted. It is more a collection of pop philosophical musings on aspects of the meaning of life. It is amusing in places, and their are some nuggets of thought provoking material amongst the psudo zen chaff that fills many of the chapters. For die hard fans (no pun intended) of the novels only.
It wasn't a bad read. But it wasn't such a hot read either. Books like this should be quotable. There should be little snippets that compel you to stop and read outloud to whoever you're with at the time. Very little of this is. In fact, only two parts are.
The second of these 'quotables' is this:
"Ah, the human charade. What fun it would be if the players knew they were only playing! In the theatre, if an actor begins to 'live' his role, to 'become' the character he is playing, we call him insane. But in life we actors take all our roles seriously, 'live' each one, 'become' each one, and are, according insane."
All the rest of the book is similar, but not as good. It's a set of quotes (mainly from other books by the same author) that aren't quotable and are very rarely funny.
So, yeah, I can't really recommend this book to anyone. Tempted to leave it on the train, but actually - it's not that bad.
This zany book is for fans of the Diceman / Whim novels. Filled with, to me pretty crazy advice on how to live the "dice life" chock full of quotes and information of Rhinehart's novels. All enlivened with illustrations, little poems, anecdotes and witticisms this is great as a companion volume to the books but is also a lot of fun for the more light hearted reader who would just use it for randomly "dipping" into. Interesting, subversive and subjective was a good read overall.
Un libro de acompañamiento de la trilogía conformada por The Dice Man, Whim y The Search for the Dice Man. El autor nos cuenta cómo estuvo años siguiendo las teorías que luego plasmaría en sus novelas y cómo estuvo a punto de morir junto a su familia por ello (entre otras muchas cosas).
La obra huele a limpieza de imagen y de siembra de cordura ante un movimiento que él comenzó y que tuvo frutos (aunque en España probablemente fuera desconocido), envuelto en largos discursos de filosofía existencialista que puedes comprar o no, pero que son más amenos que leer a Jean-Paul Sartre.
No es el libro de filosofía llamado a cambiar la vida de nadie y, sin las novelas, no tendría sentido; sin embargo, como biografía de una persona que realmente hizo lo que quiso (o lo que le dijeron los dados) durante un tiempo bien vale, que no muchos pueden preciarse de haberse salido del camino con tanta gracia y surrealismo.
compared with the dice man and the search for the diceman this is not as good, you dont really need this book, unless you are a rabid fan who collects every thing to do with the diceman