"Headshrinker's Hoyle on Games We Play" is a review of Games People Play by Dr. Eric Berne, published in the book review section of Life on June 11, 1965.
Summary[]
Eric Berne, 1969
Berne, a 55 year old San Francisco psychoanalyst, has visited mental institutions in 30 countries, "paying his way with poker winnings." His recent book easily sold out its initial 3,000 copy run with now over 40,000 copies sold almost entirely by word of mouth. Vonnegut calls the book "a brilliant, amusing, and clear catalogue" of the theatrical psychological games human beings play between each other to gain "some secret relief or satisfaction." Berne describes 101 games in the 186 page second half of his book, all of which are "sadly or sweetly or cruelly familiar."
Vonnegut sees Berne as important for common people if not scientists, stating the book clearly comes from someone with a "playful" mind. If nothing else, his games have produced enough potential plot lines for novelists and playwrights for "the next 10,000 years." In these interactions, all mature persons have three components: Parent, Adult, and Child, allowing nine different combinations. For example, Adult-Adult is often a desirable interaction, variants like Child-Child may be appropriate for love. While an oversimplified theory, Vonnegut nonetheless calls it "refreshing." While he assumes most people will skip to the second half with the games, which is what really sells the book, the first half on Berne's theory of Transactional Analysis is "solidly nourishing" and doubles the book's value."[1]
- ↑ "Headshrinker's Hoyle on Games We Play," Life, June 11, 1965.