Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
"When the logic of capitalist productivity threatens both endangered life and endangered ideas, I see little different between habitat restoration in the traditional sense and restoring habitats for human thought."
This was a very timely & personal read for me. I have some things in common with Odell; I too am a Cupertino-raised Oakland transplant now working in tech who is slowly trying to overcome my smartphone addiction & short attention span. Rly appreciated how well-researched her takes were. A lot of people have been commenting that the tone is condescending but I honestly didn't feel that way? I felt like Odell was pretty consistently candid about her privilege.
Anyways... it's a great introduction to bioregionalism, so read it for at least that aspect.
unrelated but I'm getting a Calabazas Creek tattoo on Thursday so when I read the bit about Calabazas Creek my heart fluttered. 10/10
This was a very timely & personal read for me. I have some things in common with Odell; I too am a Cupertino-raised Oakland transplant now working in tech who is slowly trying to overcome my smartphone addiction & short attention span. Rly appreciated how well-researched her takes were. A lot of people have been commenting that the tone is condescending but I honestly didn't feel that way? I felt like Odell was pretty consistently candid about her privilege.
Anyways... it's a great introduction to bioregionalism, so read it for at least that aspect.
unrelated but I'm getting a Calabazas Creek tattoo on Thursday so when I read the bit about Calabazas Creek my heart fluttered. 10/10
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book should be required reading before you get to use a smartphone.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
"One of the reasons artists so hate the interview question, "So what was your inspiration for this?" Any idea is actually an unstable, shifting intersection between myself and whatever I was encountering."
"Because to seek context is already to acknowledge that you don't have the whole story. "
This had a good general thesis, but the writing often felt like it was slipping between "this is an academic paper due at the end of the semester" and "this is my personal journal." I agree with the points, I just found it a bit annoying getting to them. Lots about birds, so Caelin, you'd probably dig this one.
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I thoroughly enjoyed so much of this book. I felt the organization of it was lost on me in audiobook form, but I had good engaging takeaways regardless. I liked that it was partisan; a lot of internet privacy and minimalism spaces seem to take a libertarian approach, where this was more anarchy and liberation. I can see myself coming back to read this again in the future!
Jenny Odell ties together many overlapping issues including capitalism, environmental devastation, and social media to show how one way they manifest together is in the hostile takeover of our brains. How to Do Nothing is a coherent description of how our minds are being colonized for corporate profit. There is little specific advice; it’s not a self-help book. Instead Odell simply tries to show us what is happening and to teach us an attitude for resisting.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
It feels cruel to rate a book this low when I don’t think I’m the intended audience for it. I took great tidbits from it and have highlights, but much of the text felt tangential and the conclusion didn’t pull together for me. It reminded me of MLA writing days with the long-boxes of quoted text. After living in an APA world with very little quotations allowed, it felt clunky and disjointed. The context was great and intriguing, but the writing style was not for me.
informative
slow-paced