How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

I decided to reread this book to help me overcome some feelings of “need” to produce. After rereading, I read some of the reviews of this book as being ‘mislabeled', and I found the inspiration to write a review for anyone who would like a different perspective on whether this book has been ‘mislabeled'.

The premise of Odell's novel is to find the joy in doing nothing, in taking life slowly, in #NOMO (necessity of missing out). She quotes Audre Lorde's self-care as “ caring for myself is not self-indulgent, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Odell writes to convince us and remind of the importance of self-preservation, time away, taking our 8 hrs to work, 8 hrs to rest, 8 hrs to do what we will instead of putting that time towards something like Facebook, Instagram, our brand that primarily serve to make money (and not usually for ourselves).

I suspect that the people upset with this book are exactly the people need this book the most. I imagine those readers picked up this book hoping for the quick fix that Odell is really specifically writing against. It is a book that requires deep listening and forces you to take the time to contemplate rather than produce. By the end of this book, one feels both inspired to tackle modern day issues and to take the time to pay attention to the community around them and make change as opposed to their Facebook pages, Twitter feed, and Goodreads followers.