How To Do Nothing

A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto. Jonah Engel Bromwich, the New York Times Book ReviewONE of President Barack Obamas Favorite Books of 2019bNAMED ONE of the BEST BOOKS of the YEAR BY: Time the New Yorker bNPR GQ Elle Vulture Fortune Boing Boing the Irish Times the New York Public Librarythe Brooklyn Public Librarybr Porchlights Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the YearNothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 247 data productivity . . . doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance. So argues artist and critic Jenny Odell in this field guide to doing nothing (at least as capitalism defines it). Odell sees our attention as the most preciousand overdrawnresource we have. Once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankinds role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book is a four-course meal in the age of Soylent.