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How to Be Idle

By Tom Hodgkinson

(8)

| Hardcover | 9780060779689

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Book Description

With advice, information, and reflection on such matters as lying in, long lunches, the art of the nap, and how to skive, How to Be Idle gives you all the inspiration you need to take a break from your fast-paced, overworked life.

From the founding editor of the The Idler, the celebContinue

With advice, information, and reflection on such matters as lying in, long lunches, the art of the nap, and how to skive, How to Be Idle gives you all the inspiration you need to take a break from your fast-paced, overworked life.

From the founding editor of the The Idler, the celebrated magazine about the freedom and fine art of doing nothing, comes not simply a book, but an antidote to our work-obsessed culture. In How to Be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson presents his learned yet whimsical argument for a new universal standard of living: being happy doing nothing. He covers a whole spectrum of issues affecting the modern idler -- sleep, work, pleasure, relationships -- bemoaning the cultural skepticism of idleness while reflecting on the writing of such famous apologists for it as Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Johnson, and Nietzsche -- all of whom have admitted to doing their very best work in bed.

It's a well-known fact that Europeans spend fewer hours at work a week than Americans. So it's only befitting that one of them -- the very clever, extremely engaging, and quite hilarious Hodgkinson -- should have the wittiest and most useful insights into the fun and nature of loafing.

Who wouldn't want to blow off work for a day and just "be idle"? The key to a life of pleasure, freedom, and guilt-free lounging around is in your hands.

Critics

  • Slow down, tune out, make peace

    How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson 288pp, Hamish Hamilton, £12.99 In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore 310pp, Orion, £16.99 The Play Ethic by Pat Kane 458pp, Macmillan, £12.99 Soft Power by Joseph Nye 208pp, Public Affairs, £18.99 Status Syndrome by Michae ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • Busy doing nothing

    Tom Hodgkinson is a 21st-century Luddite. He wishes we could smash the principles of capitalist consumerism that enslave most of the population so they can service their debts. In this beguiling book, he persuasively advocates idleness as the way to ... (read full critics)

    spectator published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

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Book Details

  • Rating:
    (8)
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  • English Books
  • Hardcover 304 Pages
  • ISBN-10: 0060779683
  • ISBN-13: 9780060779689
  • Publisher: HarperCollins
  • Pub date: May 10, 2005
  • Dimensions: 1226 mm x 839 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
  • Also available as: Paperback and eBook
  • In other languages: other languages 繁體書
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9780060779689 Hardcover $18.95 $13.38 The Book Depository
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