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Cover of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

Jenny Odell

Politics & SocietyPhilosophyPsychology
Publish date
2019
Publisher
HighBridge Audio
Description
** A New York Times Bestseller ** NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time • The New Yorker • NPR • GQ • Elle • Vulture • Fortune • Boing Boing • The Irish Times • The New York Public Library • The Brooklyn Public Library "A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto."—Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times Book Review One of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives. Odell sees our attention as the most precious—and overdrawn—resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important … but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.
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Books cited in How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

Suggested by AI, not verified against the full text. Check the original book before using them as a source.

  1. 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep

    Jonathan Crary

    Citation

    Analyzes how contemporary capitalism seeks to eliminate non-productive time and relentlessly colonize human attention.

    High relevanceExplore

  2. The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction

    Matthew B. Crawford

    Citation

    Draws on Crawford's concept of the attentional commons and the loss of shared physical reality.

    High relevanceExplore

  3. Zhuangzi

    Zhuang Zhou

    Citation

    Provides the foundational allegory of the useless tree whose lack of commercial utility ensures its survival.

    High relevanceExplore

  4. Walden

    Henry David Thoreau

    Citation

    Examined both as a model of intentional withdrawal and as an individualistic escape lacking collective responsibility.

    High relevanceExplore

  5. Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy

    James Williams

    Citation

    Cited regarding how persuasive technology undermines human agency, deep reflection, and political will.

    Medium relevanceExplore

  6. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

    Nicholas Carr

    Citation

    Referenced to discuss how constant internet connectivity fragments cognition and deep contemplation.

    Medium relevanceExplore

Recommendations

  • Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock

    Jenny Odell

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    The author's direct follow-up expanding the critique from digital attention to the social construct of time.

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  • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

    Oliver Burkeman

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    Critiques the instrumentalization of life and offers a companion perspective on rejecting modern productivity guilt.

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  • The Mushroom at the End of the World

    Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

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    Shares a core methodology of deep observation, ecological entanglement, and survival outside capitalist progress.

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  • Braiding Sweetgrass

    Robin Wall Kimmerer

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    Shares Odell's emphasis on bioregional awareness, reciprocal care for nature, and ecological attention.

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