How to Do Nothing

Resisting the Attention Economy

by Jenny Odell

Published May 21, 2019

ISBN:: 978-1-61219-749-4

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(72 reviews)

3 editions

vinibaggio reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How to Do Nothing' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book was excellent! It's a 4.5 stars for me. I really enjoyed how Jenny touches complicated topics with great lightness. It's thought provoking and I will be thinking about the book for a good while. I also was super judgemental of bird watching in the past and I caught myself watching the birds in my backyard with a whole new light. So I think this book achieved the author's intent.

It's not a 5 stars because I think the book gets a little lost in itself at times but definitely recommend reading it.

PS: I rarely write reviews but this one deserves better ratings in my opinion. I think it's easy to read, covers great topics and I really enjoyed how Jenny weaves her experiences to highlight them. Read this with friends!

Noisy Deadlines reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How to Do Nothing' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

Maybe too philosophical to my taste. Although the title book starts with "How to..." it's not really a manual. It's more like an exposition of the author's memories and her musings about art. Art like a critic of the status quo. There is a lot of talk about art. It was not my cup of tea.

Spencer reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How to Do Nothing' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Exhaustive and academic in style, it still manages to move at a brisk pace. I don't agree with every single argument, but it's great to learn some of the established language around topics I have been turning over in my head. Given its scope, I'm guessing it "pairs well" with many other books, but I kept thinking about three recent reads while reading this: "Fall, or: Dodge in Hell" by Stephenson, "Permutation City" by Egan, and "The Circle" by Eggers. The first two deal with identity, context, and bioregionalism from a tech-forward standpoint, and the latter deals with complete context collapse (a society in which rather than do nothing, everybody does everything all the time).

Jack Baty reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How to Do Nothing' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Putting this aside for now. I keep thinking, "Well that was a lot of words not saying much." I'm half-way through it so maybe it'll add up to something. So far it reads like an all-over-the-map academic hippy manifesto without benefit of an editor. I'll probably be accused of "not getting it" and so be it.

loppear reviewed How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

Review of 'How to do Nothing' on Goodreads

5 stars

Captures so many of my interests this decade in a nuanced art crit approach to turning our attention away from divisive shallow advert-brand-social-media toward the people, land, and shared mental space we deeply inhabit.