Throughout this project Stebbins has built on the work of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss and their notion of "grounded theory." First, Stebbins extensively observed the routine activities of amateurs and professionals in each field studied. Then, as he became more familiar with the life-styles of the participants, he conducted lengthy, unstructured, face-to-face interviews with, in most cases, thirty amateur or professional respondents. Each field demanded special methods of observation, analysis, interviewing, probing, and reporting. As much as possible, however, Stebbins asked similar...

Leisure activities undertaken in natureare immensely popular. This book examines the new serious leisure concept of nature challenge activity (NCA), exploring howNCAunfolds in an aesthetically appealing natural environment with implications for consumption and environmental sustainability."

Leisure education plays a central role in both the field of leisure studies and the pursuit of leisure itself. Everywhere in the modern world the most effective use of free time for individuals comes with knowing about the many leisure activities available to them and the rewards and costs that accompany their interest in each. It is through leisure education in one form or another that they gain such knowledge. Yet, as important as this educational process is, its study is only beginning to take off in non-Western societies where, however, it cannot be assumed to be the same as in the West. ...

Publications on arts-related amateur, hobbyist, some professional, and mixed-member associations and some agencies are reviewed. Their mission is to foster, present, and sometimes chronicle the art its members prize. Excluded from this review are the studies of art support organizations, formed to help fund an art, lobby government for support of it, drum up public interest, seek employment for its professionals, and the like. Also excluded are analyses of broad social and cultural effects of an arts association organization. The review covers works bearing on small arts clubs and societies,...