Title: How to Do Nothing
Subtitle: Resisting the Attention Economy
Description: Nothing 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.

So 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.

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 is a four-course meal in the age of Soylent.
Subjects: Information technology, Social aspects, Reflection (Philosophy), Attention, Philosophy, Work, Arts, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects, NATURE / Environmental Conservation & Protection, ART / Digital, Attention Economy, Internet Art, Digital Art, Resistance, Revolution, Technology, Art and society, Technology, social aspects, nyt:hardcover-nonfiction=2020-01-19, New York Times bestseller, New York Times reviewed, Political participation, Politics and government, Information technology--social aspects, Attention--philosophy, Work--philosophy, Arts--philosophy, Hm851 .o374 2019, 303.48/33, Tec052000 nat011000 art046000
Places: San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Bay Area
Time periods: 1990-2020