How to be Idle

by Tom Hodgkinson

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As Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. The Protestant work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them. But here, at last, is a book that can help. From Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the Idler, comes How To Be Idle, an antidote to the work-obsessed culture which puts so many obstacles between ourselves and our dreams. Hodgkinson presents us with a laid-back argument for a new contract between routine and chaos, an argument for experiencing life to the full and living in the moment. Ranging across a host of issues that may affect the modern idler - sleep, the world of work, pleasure and hedonism, relationships, bohemian living, revolution - he draws on the writings of such well-known apologists for idleness as Dr Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and Nietzsche. His message is clear: take control of your life and reclaim your right to be idle.
  • ISBN10 0241142512
  • ISBN13 9780241142516
  • Publish Date 26 August 2004
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 30 June 2005
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
  • Imprint Hamish Hamilton Ltd
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 304
  • Language English