How to be Idle

As Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. The Protestant work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them. This book presents us with a laid-back argument for a contract between routine and chaos, an argument for experiencing life to the full and living in the moment.

How to be Idle is Tom Hodgkinson's brilliant guide to reclaiming your right to be idle

'Well written, funny and with a scholarly knowledge of the literature of laziness, it is both a book to be enjoyed at leisure and to change lives' Sunday Times

As Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. A burn-out work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them. But here, at last, is a book that can help. Hodgkinson presents us with a laid-back argument for a new contract between routine and chaos, an argument for experiencing life to the full and living in the moment.

Ranging across a host of issues that affect the modern idler:
-Sleep
-Work
-Pleasure and hedonism
-Relationships
-Bohemian living
-Revolution

Drawing on the writings of such well-known apologists for idleness as Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and Nietzsche, his message is clear: take control of your life and reclaim your right to be idle.