A soaring masterpiece by the Pulitzer-winning author of Overstory.

From an island in French Polynesia, Makatea —  whose original inhabitants believed the world was created by Ta’aora dropping pieces of his shell — to the housing projects in Chicago; from the depths of the ocean to artificial intelligence. Playground is the story of a friendship, between a bookish Black student, Rafi Young, on scholarship to an elite Jesuit high school, and the wealthy class nerd, Todd Keane. They form a strong emotional bond over chess and then the Chinese game of Go, a forerunner to AI.

At the University of Illinois (whose real-life alumni include founders of Netscape, YouTube, Oracle and PayPal) Todd develops Playground, an economics app that has billions of daily users (Facebook, anyone). Remaining literary, Rafi falls in love with a Hawaiian-Tahitian artist Ina Aroita, and they move to Makatea, where the 81 inhabitants are considering how to respond to libertarian tech moguls who want to build floating cities free of taxes and regulations.

Among those residents is Evie Beaulieu, writing a book she hopes will save the oceans. Evie is one of the world’s leading oceanographers.  Having overcome rampant sexism in the male-dominated field she swims with manta ray, cuttle fish, sharks, and sea creatures who emit lights and sounds no human has experienced.

An exploration of conventional immortality; the threat of AI; neo-colonial capitalism; technology; the environment; oceans and earth.
Brilliant and haunting.
— Ray

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