How to Do NothingA galvanizing critique of the forces vying for our attention--and our personal information--that redefines what we think of as productivity, reconnects us with the environment, and reveals all that we've been too distracted to see about ourselves and our world Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 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 precious--and overdrawn--resource we have. Once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind's 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - jonerthon - LibraryThingPerhaps I'm already doing what the author proposes by stubbornly reading all these books in actual print. It is nice to slowly and aimlessly enjoy something even if it offers no remuneration or ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - terriks - LibraryThingOddly, this book that was just released in 2019 already feels dated. It could be that the Covid-19 pandemic made the author's arguments for turning out and turning on seem less urgent than when it was ... Read full review
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activist actually artist asked attention economy B. F. Skinner Bartleby Berkeley bioregion birds called capitalist Community Memory context creek culture Cupertino David Hockney Deep Listening describes Digital Detox Diogenes Drop City ecological Eleanor Coppola encounter Epicurus everything example experience Facebook feel Felix Frazier friends going happens Hockney Houriet human I-It Ibid idea imagine individual kind live look manifest dismantling mesh network mind mountains neighborhood Neurodiversity night herons Oakland observation Ohlone Old Survivor painting Park Pauline Oliveros person persuasive design Peter Berg Peter Thiel piece political productive reality redwoods refusal reminder retreat Rose Garden San Francisco scene Seasteading sense social media someone sound space of appearance Stanford story Tehching Hsieh things Thoreau thought tion tree tweet Twitter users Walden walk Westworld writes York
Bibliographic information
| Title | How to Do Nothing |
| Author | Jenny Odell |
| Publisher | Melville House, 2019 |
| ISBN | 1612197493, 9781612197494 |
| Length | 256 pages |
| Subjects | › ART / Digital NATURE / Environmental Conservation & Protection TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |