How to Do Nothing - by Jenny Odell (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

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

One of President Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2019

NAMED 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

Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year

In 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.

Odell 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.

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 will change how you see your place in our world.

Review Quotes

How to Do Nothing is genuinely instructive, elaborating a practical philosophy to help us slow down and temporarily sidestep the forces aligned against both our mental health and long-term human survival. You can knock the hustle -- and you should.--Akiva Gottlieb, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Approachable and incisive. . . . The book is clearly the work of a socially conscious artist and writer who considers careful attention to the rich variety of the world an antidote to the addictive products and platforms that technology provides. . . . [Odell] sails with capable ease between the Scylla and Charybdis of subjectivity and arid theory with the relatable humanity of her vision.--Nicholas Cannariato, THE WASHINGTON POST

The sentiment behind How to Do Nothing is one of defiance."--Casey Schwartz, THE NEW YORK TIMES

An erudite and thoughtful narrative about the importance of interiority and taking time to pay close attention to the spaces around us.--Annie Vainshtein, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

An eloquent argument against the cult of efficiency, and I felt both consoled and invigorated by it.--Jennifer Szalai, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

The path to freedom lies within the covers of this book.--Lauren Goode, WIRED

How to Do Nothing mimics the experience of walking with a perceptive and sensitive friend, the kind of person who makes you feel, in your bones, that it's a miraculous gift to be alive.--Katie Bloom, THE SEATTLE TIMES

Odell's great strength as a writer is her ability to convey art's unique power without overestimating or misstating its social impact. . . . Ultimately, what sets her book apart from self-help is not a less quixotic set of demands but a more life-affirming endgame.--Megan Marz, THE BAFFLER

Thoughtful, compelling, and practical.--Clay Skipper, GQ

"This is a potentially subversive book. Affirming that we should take more time offline for nurturing our own thoughts (and so our own being) does not sound that new, but here it is so gracefully articulated in irresistible arguments."--Aurelio Cianciotta, Neural

Jenny Odell's brilliant How to Do Nothing is the book we all need to read now. With wonderful precision, passion, and artfulness, Odell finds the language to meet this cultural moment. She has written a joyful manifesto about resistance that is also an eccentric and practical handbook on how to reclaim your colonized and monetized attention.--Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others

"Self-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

"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

"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

"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

Odell introduces the idea that within our world there are endless other worlds; many of the alternatives sound much better. We need only pay attention.--VICE'S Broadly

About The Author