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650 reviews for:
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Celeste Headlee
3.87 AVERAGE
650 reviews for:
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Celeste Headlee
3.87 AVERAGE
One of many books on this topic; I intend to read them all. This one leans heavy on personal anecdote, which is wearisome. I’d prefer more research but what research is presented is promising. The first half of the book on the (recent) history of efficiency and attention/distraction based economies is just okay, familiar but a bit cherry picked. The second half is an effective compilation of opportunities to embrace idleness & leisure for its own sake. Imagination, creativity, processing and decompressing, deep thinking, personal reflection — all of this requires a delicate balance of solitude & socializing, idleness and hobbying, and true leisure minus the distractions of our work and devices. This half of the book would’ve made an excellent, shorter book. Again, as an introvert, I don’t appreciate that the perspectives presented are almost entirely extroverted. That said, I did appreciate that the author acknowledges luck as a basis for success and take moments to acknowledge that idleness & leisure opportunities arise from economic affluence & privilege.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
i feel like this book has a very specific target audience and i don't think i am there yet (would love to be there though) to be able to relate to the book. it's still a nice one though! maybe i will go back to this one day
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Highly recommend. The first half (and truthfully the part I found most engaging) was a thoughtful and well-researched look at our modern work life and its origins as well as our current addiction to life-hacking everything and worshiping at the altar of productivity (my words, not Celeste’s). The second half offered a set of practical and actionable methods to break free and reclaim our time, served up with the necessary caveats that some of the ideas remain unrealistic for the millions of people who work hourly service or labor jobs (often multiple just to make ends meet), but that’s another book entirely.
Highly recommend! Has helpful tips to slow down in a world of excess business