Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir
Ratings13
Average rating3.2
Added to listMemoir Biographywith 48 books.
Added to listAudiobooks Readwith 149 books.
Okay, going into this, you have to realize that this is very much a Japanese book about a guy who does nothing. That literally means that not a whole lot happens in this book, but it's still quite charming. Our Rental Person is an unassuming guy who found himself unsuited for Japanese corporate life, and wondered if 'doing nothing' could have some sort of social significance. Thus, he rents himself out to people who need someone along who does.....nothing. All he asks is for his travel and expenses to be covered, and you have yourself someone who will listen to your problems without comment, who will attend events and do nothing in the audience, who will eat with you at a restaurant without comment, any number of things.
Whether or not you agree with him and his thinking here aside, I actually enjoyed this book. Rental Person seems to be quite conscientious about having as little impact as possible in other people's lives, and yet still manages to be of service. It's kind of a meandering book, where requests quoted from Twitter are posted alongside his social media commentary tweet about the job, and then the author comments on his particular thoughts about the job. There's not a lot of deep insight here, and especially his thoughts on doing literally nothing are reiterated a ton, but as a surface level story about the myriad strange requests someone gets to do nothing, I thought it succeeded well.
Just a short, sweet book about doing nothing.
Okay, going into this, you have to realize that this is very much a Japanese book about a guy who does nothing. That literally means that not a whole lot happens in this book, but it's still quite charming. Our Rental Person is an unassuming guy who found himself unsuited for Japanese corporate life, and wondered if 'doing nothing' could have some sort of social significance. Thus, he rents himself out to people who need someone along who does.....nothing. All he asks is for his travel and expenses to be covered, and you have yourself someone who will listen to your problems without comment, who will attend events and do nothing in the audience, who will eat with you at a restaurant without comment, any number of things.
Whether or not you agree with him and his thinking here aside, I actually enjoyed this book. Rental Person seems to be quite conscientious about having as little impact as possible in other people's lives, and yet still manages to be of service. It's kind of a meandering book, where requests quoted from Twitter are posted alongside his social media commentary tweet about the job, and then the author comments on his particular thoughts about the job. There's not a lot of deep insight here, and especially his thoughts on doing literally nothing are reiterated a ton, but as a surface level story about the myriad strange requests someone gets to do nothing, I thought it succeeded well.
Just a short, sweet book about doing nothing.
Some books are interesting because of their plot, engaging characters, or because of unique insight the author has. This is not one of those books. HOWEVER, I would still defend it as an interesting read for the thoughts and conversations it sparks about the value of work and how we define it, what it means for someone to have "value" to society, and the complicated obligations that our relationships with each other create. By doing nothing Morimoto becomes a mirror through which we can study each other.
Some books are interesting because of their plot, engaging characters, or because of unique insight the author has. This is not one of those books. HOWEVER, I would still defend it as an interesting read for the thoughts and conversations it sparks about the value of work and how we define it, what it means for someone to have "value" to society, and the complicated obligations that our relationships with each other create. By doing nothing Morimoto becomes a mirror through which we can study each other.
This is really interesting. The multitude of examples Mr Rental Person provides are a good resource to reflect on human behavior in society. Why would someone rent a stranger to just be there and do nothing? I wish there were similar situations elsewhere in the world for us to draw comparisons between different societies. There's really a lot to reflect on in this book.
This is really interesting. The multitude of examples Mr Rental Person provides are a good resource to reflect on human behavior in society. Why would someone rent a stranger to just be there and do nothing? I wish there were similar situations elsewhere in the world for us to draw comparisons between different societies. There's really a lot to reflect on in this book.
A pretty easy book to bring in the new year. Really enjoyable recount of what Rental Person has done (through in-line tweets), and overall explanation of his philosophy. A good ‘we turned a twitter account into a book’ book.
A pretty easy book to bring in the new year. Really enjoyable recount of what Rental Person has done (through in-line tweets), and overall explanation of his philosophy. A good ‘we turned a twitter account into a book’ book.
A pretty easy book to bring in the new year. Really enjoyable recount of what Rental Person has done (through in-line tweets), and overall explanation of his philosophy. A good ‘we turned a twitter account into a book’ book.
A pretty easy book to bring in the new year. Really enjoyable recount of what Rental Person has done (through in-line tweets), and overall explanation of his philosophy. A good ‘we turned a twitter account into a book’ book.