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A review by rolin
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
3.0
Mixed feelings. I find myself agreeing with the book but finding it pretty unconvincing.
Her attention flits between some Walter Benjamin and then about her developing a bird watching hobby and decentralized internet networks. Sure it's organic musing but feels like the inquiry is superficial. For a book whose central takeaway is resisting the attention economy, there's less struggle (and I say this in the annoying hand-wavey-lefty way) than I would have expected.
Happy that this book means a lot to people and to her. Im just kind of dismayed that this kind of aesthetic-friendly musing ramble is the bar we hold this kind of argument to. At least now I can better appreciate David Hockney. Oh and I liked her ecology writing.
For other works that I think convey Odell's points in a more robust way:
The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing
Flight Ways by Thom Van Dooren
Seeing Like a State by James Scott
Subprime Attention Crisis by Tim Hwang
Her attention flits between some Walter Benjamin and then about her developing a bird watching hobby and decentralized internet networks. Sure it's organic musing but feels like the inquiry is superficial. For a book whose central takeaway is resisting the attention economy, there's less struggle (and I say this in the annoying hand-wavey-lefty way) than I would have expected.
Happy that this book means a lot to people and to her. Im just kind of dismayed that this kind of aesthetic-friendly musing ramble is the bar we hold this kind of argument to. At least now I can better appreciate David Hockney. Oh and I liked her ecology writing.
For other works that I think convey Odell's points in a more robust way:
The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing
Flight Ways by Thom Van Dooren
Seeing Like a State by James Scott
Subprime Attention Crisis by Tim Hwang