TOM HODGKINSON – HOW TO BE IDLE
June 15th, 2005 by yoko
‘He’s only gone and hit the nail on the fucking head’
Damien Hirst
‘There is, as usual, some effort involved in holding up the book and turning the pages. This time, hurrah – it’s worth it!’
Giles Foden
‘A cutting-edge investigation into idleness from one of the world’s foremost experts on this vexing subject. It’s witty and clever and underneath the fun there is a serious message: idleness is good for us’
Publishing News
As Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. The Protestant work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them.
But here, at last, is a book that can help. With twenty-four chapters, each relating to an hour of the day, How To Be Idle offers advice to the modern loafer from ‘8.00am Waking Up Is Hard To Do’ through ‘1.00pm The Death of Lunch’, ‘3.00pm The Nap’, ‘10.00pm The Pub’ and ‘3.00am Party Time.’ Tom Hodgkinson draws on the writings of such well-known apologists for idleness as Dr Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and Nietzsche.
His message is clear: take control of your life and reclaim your right to be idle.
‘Just because he’s lazy doesn’t mean he doesn’t care’
Damien Hirst
Tom Hodgkinson Biography
Tom Hodgkinson was born in 1968. After studying English at university, he worked in a skateboarding shop and then at a tabloid magazine. After being sacked in 1993 he went on the dole and launched the Idler. Since then he has written for various newspapers and magazines, imported absinthe and moved to Devon with his family.
Find out more about the Idler at www.idler.co.uk
