How to Be Idle: A Loafer's Manifesto

by Tom Hodgkinson

Book Overview

Yearning for a life of leisure? In 24 chapters representing each hour of a typical working day, this book will coax out the loafer in even the most diligent and schedule-obsessed worker. From the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060779691
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 0.8" x 4.9"

Customer Reviews

It's a lifestyle.

Some people just don't get it. For those that do...this book is your bible. I'm much too idle to write more...

A relaxing stroll with an erudite pal who knows everyone...

This is quite a fun and relaxing read, but the very best part is that Hodgkinson brings in quotes and thoughts by everyone from Seneca to Wilde to Hemingway. Even though you're reading about slacking and dreaming about idling, all the while you're actually taking in the Great Thoughts by the Great Thinkers. I read it in one day, comfortably perched in my favorite chair. A must-read for all Anglophiles as well as anyone who revels in thumbing his or her nose at the workaday world out there.

Freedom from the chains of busyness

This is a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening book that advocates dropping out of the modern rat race. Tom Hodgkinson, publisher of a magazine called the Idler (which I haven't seen but am going to look for) has a deceptively light and humorous tone which masks a more serious agenda. At first, I thought that this book was simply going for laughs, but as I read on I realized that Hodgkinson is very serious about his doctrine of doing less. He quotes liberally from one of my favorite authors, Lin Yutang, a Chinese-American who, even fifty or so years ago, was lamenting the hurried pace of modern life. Like Yutang before him, Hodgkinson admires the "do nothing" approach of the Taoists. How To Be Idle is divided into 24 chapters, for each hour of the day. Each hour illustrates another way to relax and decline to participate in the mostly useless and banal hustle and bustle of the workaday world. We should, for example, get up late, lie in bed for a while, have tea in the afternoon, cocktails at six, and so forth. Hodgkinson is a true contrarian; in addition to being anti-work, he champions the politically incorrect habits of smoking and drinking. He connects the pub with radical political movements and points out how the authorities instinctively distrust idlers, seeing them (probably rightly) as basic foes of the political/industrial machine. You could criticize How To Be Idle as impractical and for not really providing a means to drop out. Hodgkinson, for example, breezily talks about staying home from work, even quitting your job, but how many people can really do this? Yet a book like this helps us to take the first step, which is asking some basic questions about our supposedly free and prosperous society. Most people today are on a never-ending treadmill, in which the bulk of their time is spent sustaining a life that is controlled by others. I enjoyed the whole book, but I especially appreciated the last few chapters. Hodgkinson reveals his truly radical vision when he discusses holidays, and how the whole concept is really part of the wage-slave mentality. First of all, people are encouraged to be constantly busy on holiday, which, he points out, defeats the whole purpose. More fundamentally, we have become conditioned to having our freedom doled out to us by leaders, whether of state or corporation. So we are allowed a holiday now and then in order to make us more amenable to our captivity the rest of the time. What this book is really saying is that it is up to us to take back our time and freedom. I am in accord with Hodgkinson's desire to free us from these chains.

A Book I'll Refer To Often

A little gem of a book, "How To Be Idle" is full of wit and wisdom from the other side of the work-obsessed fence/culture (as well as "pond"). And I don't mean cute but useless platitudes, either. Despite being an idler himself, author Tom Hodgkinson really did his homework on this one. Included are chapters on sleep, the workplace, holidays, etc. including the evolution of our present-day work habits, and how much of our current misery came about as a result of the Industrial Revolution, as well as Thomas Edison's inventions. I was truly surprised to discover Mr. Hodgkinson's relatively young age (b. 1968), as his knowledge and intelligence are extensive. The "Party Time" chapter betrays him, however; methinks I'll skip the rave parties, thanks much. Also, especially in the chapter on "Sex and Idleness", Mr. Hodgkinson seems to forget that half the population of the planet and hence potentially half his readership, is female. HEADS UP, Tom; be mindful of this and you may sell more books. I thought about severely chastising him for these faux pas, but the rest of the book is so delightful (well, there are typos; just a few), that as a true idler I will let it go. Besides, the real icing on the cake is that Mr. Hodgkinson includes an EXCELLENT section "For Further Reading" of books, periodicals, and websites. Many of the materials mentioned are by some of the great sages of history - Dr. Samuel Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Coleridge, LOTS more. So "How To Be Idle" offers a vast store of information, and handily merits a 5-star rating. Normally I'm content to just borrow a book from the library and return it, but this one I gladly purchased. I recommend it as a keeper to anyone wishing to enlighten themselves and/or shed the guilt sometimes associated with idleness.

Idle bliss

Okay, so this is a book that you just have to read while at work, since spending your idle time reading it would do it injustice. Celebrating the human spirit and life in general, this book will delight and inspire many a sick-day or an impromtu midday walk in the park. After reading the chapter on naps, I closed my office door, turned off the light, sprawled across two chairs, and promptly fell into a pleasant doze. The book is a wonderful compendium of quotes and craftily funny arguments to slow down, slack off, chill out, and stop taking everything--especially work--so seriously. I'm glad the author mentions one of my heros, the almost forgotten Lin Yutang, who wrote the Ur-Idleness book "The Importance of Living" way back in the 1930s. "How to be Idle" has delightfully short chapters, with whimsical themes and an attitude that is diametrically opposed to the crazy work-ethic and health-disease (the condition of being obsessed with health) on both sides of the pond. I wish there were more books like this.