“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 “Struck a hopeful nerve of possibility that I hadn’t felt in a long time.” -Jia Tolentino, THE NEW YORKER Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world. 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.įar 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. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. Odell sees our attention as the most precious-and overdrawn-resource we have. 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. 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. Porchlight’s Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: One of President Barack Obama’s “Favorite Books of 2019”

How to do nothing odell