Laziness Does Not Exist

Remy reviewed Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price

Review of 'Laziness Does Not Exist' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

this is good for people who need its message, but it feels very focused on privileged middle to upper middle class people as a demographic—you know, white collar people who are working into burnout and just need a nudge to have permission to take a break.

as a leftist already, it was already messages i knew about and the book didn’t give me any new messages to chew on. the book reframes calvinist work ethic and capitalistic critique in a way that might be more palatable to neoliberals or garden variety democrats, but if you know about those concepts already the book won’t teach you anything new.

ymmv. i’d still recommend it to people who i feel need the message, and whom i think might have kneejerk reactions to specific language, despite how very. . .’kid gloves’ the book feels at times.

Matt B Gets Lit reviewed Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price

Review of 'Laziness Does Not Exist' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

During the pandemic, I have been re-examining how I balance and sort my time, analyzing not just my work-life balance, but also my LIFE-life balance: chores, errands, gaming, reading, etc, are all hyper-scheduled, down to the minute. This book gave some insight into why I do that.

The premise of the book is not a surprise to anyone. There were no mind-blowing revelations here. Many of us feel overworked because, spoiler alert, we are. The problem is that, because the weary and exhausted feeling is so common, we've come to think of it as completely normal, when it shouldn't be.

I appreciated that the book is academic and educational but without too much specialized language. The author makes plenty of references to studies without getting into the nitty-gritty, and provides endnotes for those readers who want to follow up and dig into the details.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the …

During the pandemic, I have been re-examining how I balance and sort my time, analyzing not just my work-life balance, but also my LIFE-life balance: chores, errands, gaming, reading, etc, are all hyper-scheduled, down to the minute. This book gave some insight into why I do that.

The premise of the book is not a surprise to anyone. There were no mind-blowing revelations here. Many of us feel overworked because, spoiler alert, we are. The problem is that, because the weary and exhausted feeling is so common, we've come to think of it as completely normal, when it shouldn't be.

I appreciated that the book is academic and educational but without too much specialized language. The author makes plenty of references to studies without getting into the nitty-gritty, and provides endnotes for those readers who want to follow up and dig into the details.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the premise definitely comes from a place of privilege. There is very little that blue-collar and minority peoples can do about the expectations of productivity thrust upon them. While the book does address that privilege, it doesn't have much to offer in the way of combatting it. Perhaps there are no good solutions, other than constantly educating and hoping to reach the minds of those with influence and authority.

I would definitely recommend this book to just about anyone. (Especially my bosses!) It's a light read about an important topic. We could all use a more empathic mindset. We could all be a little kinder, both to ourselves and to others.