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A review by lilith89ibz
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
5.0
This book is an artist's approach to connecting with other people within our community and to our natural environment, getting to know the geography of the place where we live, and the flora and fauna that surrounds us, not to the total exclusion of technology, but with an awareness of how we use it and with intentionality. The iNaturalist app is a good recommendation.
A quote that struck close to home was that a phone is a tiny sensory deprivation chamber. When I'm indoors, waiting, I find myself entirely too often completely engrossed in whatever is going on inside my phone, only to realise when I come out of my trance, that I had no idea what was happening around me for the past 2 minutes. Not thrilled about it.
Odell discusses thoughts from a few other authors, mainly [a:Rebecca Solnit|15811|Rebecca Solnit|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1535567225p2/15811.jpg], [a:Hannah Arendt|12806|Hannah Arendt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1608634661p2/12806.jpg], [a:Henry Thoreau|22010932|Henry Thoreau|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Audre Lorde|18486|Audre Lorde|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1613651890p2/18486.jpg], [a:Robin Wall Kimmerer|49921|Robin Wall Kimmerer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1441041257p2/49921.jpg] (her book [b:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants|17465709|Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants|Robin Wall Kimmerer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1366775928l/17465709._SY75_.jpg|24362458] in particular, which is wonderful), [a:David Abram|27231|David Abram|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1348837046p2/27231.jpg] ([b:Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology|7822953|Becoming Animal An Earthly Cosmology|David Abram|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320517119l/7822953._SY75_.jpg|10865575]) and [a:Michael Pollan|2121|Michael Pollan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366396171p2/2121.jpg]. I really need to read Hannah Arendt, this is getting embarrassing.
If you're not an artist or a musician there may be a few things Odell talks about that are not entirely familiar, but I found her extremely relatable. I don't find Diogenes quite as sympathetic as she does, but I agree that he was definitely living his life as a performance. Odell puts forth that what he did was a meaningful way to bring attention to the things he objected to, and sure, I guess, if it's 300 BC and you're the only crazy bathtub guy in town, people are going to notice. Right now, I think the most infamous person living 24/7 as a performance is Kanye. Not sure the competition for attention on social media favours deep philosophical discussion in order to enact political change through artistic commentary. John Cage and Yves Klein made a huge impact back in their day, but I don't know just how well known someone like Marina Abramović is right now. Certainly not as well known as Kanye.
As a little aside, I really liked Odell's juxtaposition of remembering vs dismembering. They're not actually etymologically related, but it feels as if they could be. Remembering something as the process of putting its pieces back together.
Overall, I'm not entirely convinced that we should all, every single one of us within a society, choose to rebel against the system by refusing to pay taxes like Thoreau, or living in a bathtub, but there is a lot of depth in this book, and room for individual choices that can be made. Above all, Odell encourages us to be curious about where we are instead of spending time passively absorbing information which is overwhelmingly irrelevant to us, and that's just great advice.
A quote that struck close to home was that a phone is a tiny sensory deprivation chamber. When I'm indoors, waiting, I find myself entirely too often completely engrossed in whatever is going on inside my phone, only to realise when I come out of my trance, that I had no idea what was happening around me for the past 2 minutes. Not thrilled about it.
Odell discusses thoughts from a few other authors, mainly [a:Rebecca Solnit|15811|Rebecca Solnit|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1535567225p2/15811.jpg], [a:Hannah Arendt|12806|Hannah Arendt|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1608634661p2/12806.jpg], [a:Henry Thoreau|22010932|Henry Thoreau|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png], [a:Audre Lorde|18486|Audre Lorde|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1613651890p2/18486.jpg], [a:Robin Wall Kimmerer|49921|Robin Wall Kimmerer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1441041257p2/49921.jpg] (her book [b:Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants|17465709|Braiding Sweetgrass Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants|Robin Wall Kimmerer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1366775928l/17465709._SY75_.jpg|24362458] in particular, which is wonderful), [a:David Abram|27231|David Abram|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1348837046p2/27231.jpg] ([b:Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology|7822953|Becoming Animal An Earthly Cosmology|David Abram|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320517119l/7822953._SY75_.jpg|10865575]) and [a:Michael Pollan|2121|Michael Pollan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1366396171p2/2121.jpg]. I really need to read Hannah Arendt, this is getting embarrassing.
If you're not an artist or a musician there may be a few things Odell talks about that are not entirely familiar, but I found her extremely relatable. I don't find Diogenes quite as sympathetic as she does, but I agree that he was definitely living his life as a performance. Odell puts forth that what he did was a meaningful way to bring attention to the things he objected to, and sure, I guess, if it's 300 BC and you're the only crazy bathtub guy in town, people are going to notice. Right now, I think the most infamous person living 24/7 as a performance is Kanye. Not sure the competition for attention on social media favours deep philosophical discussion in order to enact political change through artistic commentary. John Cage and Yves Klein made a huge impact back in their day, but I don't know just how well known someone like Marina Abramović is right now. Certainly not as well known as Kanye.
As a little aside, I really liked Odell's juxtaposition of remembering vs dismembering. They're not actually etymologically related, but it feels as if they could be. Remembering something as the process of putting its pieces back together.
Overall, I'm not entirely convinced that we should all, every single one of us within a society, choose to rebel against the system by refusing to pay taxes like Thoreau, or living in a bathtub, but there is a lot of depth in this book, and room for individual choices that can be made. Above all, Odell encourages us to be curious about where we are instead of spending time passively absorbing information which is overwhelmingly irrelevant to us, and that's just great advice.