Odell is an artist and thinker who seamlessly threads together disparate ideas to create a philosophy of 21st Century sustainable living. This book's strongest element is its richness of sources. Drawing from historians, contemporary subcultures, philosophers and artists, How to Do Nothing is a well-structured roadmap for resistant activism without withdrawal from society.

Odell is energetic, using examples from her own life and stories from many others' to synthesise this in a book that is thoroughly researched. She argues for actively choosing to move against the presented myth of progress mostly by learning attentiveness and engagement. Some of the language uses distracting modern slang that would suit a blog or a conversation, but weakens the poignancy of Odell's otherwise thoughtful arguments, but this is a small negative in an otherwise hopeful book.