How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Notes From Your Bookseller\n\nA surprise of a read, unless you take in both title AND subtitle. Odell's "nothing" is neither passive nor disengaged but intentional resistance urging a changed perspective, a shift in focus away from the demands of a 24/7 high volume culture. The read is graceful, serendipitous and experiential. It nudges us to notice what grabs our attention, what occasions us to pause, and illustrates the value of a meander -- and it spurs me to re-read Thoreau's Walden.\n\n** A New York Times Bestseller **\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\n"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 Review\n\nOne of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" \nPorchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year\n\nIn a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives. \n\nOdell sees our attention as the most precious--and overdrawn--resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important ... but 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 will change how you see your place in our world.\n\nEditorial Reviews\n\n...a collage (or maybe it's a compost heap) of ideas about detaching from life online, built out of scraps collected from artists, writers, critics and philosophers. In the book's first chapter, [Odell] remarks that she finds things that already exist "infinitely more interesting than anything I could possibly make." Then, summoning the ideas of others, she goes on to construct a complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto.\n- The New York Times Book Review - Jonah Engel Bromwich\n\nSelf-help for the collectively minded, How to Do Nothing is as thoughtful and morally serious as it is fun to read. This book will change how you see the world."--Malcolm Harris, author of Kids These Days \n\n"Your chaotic, fraught internal weather isn't an accident, it's a business-model, and while 'thoughtful resistance' isn't 'productive,' Odell proves that it is utterly necessary."--Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Walkaway\n\n"In a media and tech ecosystem simultaneously obsessed with "digital detox" and building personal brands, How to Do Nothing is a breath of fresh air grounding readers in the complex, interdependent actual ecosystems of the physical world. Jenny Odell writes with remarkable clarity and compassion. Each chapter reads like going on a fascinating walk through a park in conversation with an old friend (who happens to also be able to tell you about every single bird in the park, which is awesome). It's a book I already know I'll be returning to and referencing for a long time."--Ingrid Burrington, author of Networks of New York \n\n"In How to do Nothing Jenny Odell breaks through the invisible yoke that binds 21st century first-worlders to our app-driven devices. With a thoughtful look at the attention economy, Odell's book is a self-help guide for re-learning how to look at the world. The book braids threads of ancient philosophy together with contemporary visual and technological culture, and weaves an original route to re-wilding the mind. Wide-ranging and erudite, this book is also entertaining, and brings the reader along with enthusiasm to Odell's philosophy of "manifest dismantling." --Megan Prelinger, author of Inside the Machine: Art and Invention in the Electronic Age \n- From the Publisher\n\nListeners expecting instruction on the art of doing nothing (especially those who hope to unplug, listen, and return to work refreshed and productive) will be surprised: This audiobook is less about HOW to do nothing than WHY to do nothing-it illuminates what we gain by doing less and unplugging from the "cult of productivity." Narrator Rebecca Gibel offers a spirited sense of company as she unfolds this extended essay. Odell invokes Montaigne's definition-the work is more open-ended exploration than argument. Gibel's insight and guidance are especially useful in highlighting Odell's sometimes circuitous questioning of the nature of productivity and the way that our current social-media-driven culture asks us to curate our lives. A provocative invitation to reconsider the nature-and benefits-of paying attention. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine\n- JUNE 2019 - AudioFile
Publication Details
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Binding: Hardcover
Published by: Melville House Publishing: , 2019
Edition:
ISBN: 9781612197494 | 1612197493
256 pages.
Book Condition: Very Good
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