Playing with Reality
Playing with Reality by Kelly Clancy is one of 2026's most credible books, appearing on 2 of the year's most respected lists, including The Economist, The Guardian, for a Consensus Score of 28 out of 100.
Appears on these lists
Our take
AI-draftedClancy, a neuroscientist who has also worked at DeepMind, traces games as tools of simulation and control from Enlightenment-era war-gaming through to modern algorithmic systems, arguing that the games a society takes seriously shape what it thinks is possible. The book was named a best book of the year by both The Economist and The Guardian, and reviewers praised its strongest sections, close readings of specific historical games and their unintended consequences, as genuinely illuminating. The more skeptical reviews pushed back on the book's broadest claims linking games to democracy and cognition.
How the Consensus Score is calculated
Our Consensus Score is our own transparent editorial metric — not a user rating. It weighs each list by the credibility of its source, how recent the listing is, and any award status. Here is the full breakdown.
| Source | Authority | Recency | Award | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Economist | 0.95 | 0.70 | 1.00× | 0.67 |
| The Guardian | 0.85 | 0.70 | 1.00× | 0.59 |
| Weighted sum → Score | 1.26 → 28 | |||
Similar consensus books
Because they appear on some of the same lists.
Frequently asked
What lists is Playing with Reality on?
Playing with Reality appears on 2 lists in our 2026 corpus, including The Economist, The Guardian.
What is its Consensus Score?
Playing with Reality has a Consensus Score of 28 out of 100, our transparent editorial measure of how many credible lists agree on it.