How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

n** A New York Times Bestseller ** nA 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 Review n nOne of President Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2019 n nNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time - The New Yorker - NPR - GQ - Elle - Vulture - Fortune - Boing Boing - The Irish Times - The New York Public Library - The Brooklyn Public Library n nPorchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year n nNothing 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. n nSo 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. n nFar 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.n