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How to Do Nothing
- Resisting the Attention Economy
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gidel
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
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How to Do Nothing
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Summary
A galvanizing critique of the forces vying for our attention - and our personal information - that redefines what we think of as productivity, reconnects us with the environment, and reveals all that we’ve been too distracted to see about ourselves and our world.
Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity...doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance. So argues artist and critic Jenny Odell in this field guide to doing nothing (at least as capitalism defines it). Odell sees our attention as the most precious - and overdrawn - resource we have. 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 audiobook is a four-course meal in the age of Soylent.
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What listeners say about How to Do Nothing
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- rjj
- 01-02-21
What is the point?
After every chapter I kept hoping that there would be a hint of a big reveal or at least some point. I was to be denied. It feels like the author wanted to get us to step away from the attention economy that is social media but realised that this would not fill up a book. She therefore filled it with commentary on favourite artists and such like and went off in completely different directions each time.
After four hours (audible version) I could bear no more and had to accept that there was no point and there would be no reveal. Hopefully I can return this for something written with a bit more discipline.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Otaku
- 10-08-23
Not a good narrrator
This book is ostensibly good, but I am really struggling with the narrator, who mispronounces words- including preferences, which is not a hard word to pronounce- and doesn't emphasize the right words in sentences. She just sounds sort of smooth and robotic. So the meaning of the book is much harder to grasp and I find my attention sliding away from it. I also have the ebook (perhaps not that appropriate for a book which wants us to step away from technology, but there we are), so I may try that instead.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 14-07-23
Enrooted
I was diligently, meticulously taken on a journey across the world and all her diverse regions as well as through the Odell's personal historical ecosystem of art, activism and science while I walked through Hude Park, sat in my accommodation and bodied across from trees. Will definitely listen again, absolutely chuffed that it comes included.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- SJGathercole1
- 21-11-23
Not for me. Not what I was expecting.
Almost didn't finish if I'm honest. There were just enough interesting titbits for me to keep going but at times this felt more like a book on birdwatching than anything else. Lots of tangents that took a long time to become clear.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- GW
- 16-11-23
The narrator sounds like Siri from Wish
I'm still working through this book, but the narration is very difficult to enjoy. The content seems good so far.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Patrik
- 04-10-23
Very self centred
It just keeps going about she is “an artist” and her privileged lifestyle. Nothing about how to do nothing.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mariana
- 22-01-23
Great book, narration not so great
Excellent points, interesting approach, but the narration felt disconnected from the meaning of the words that were being said.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Client d'Amazon
- 04-01-23
Not sure if I would recommend it
The book spoke to me - on a subjective level - but I’m not sure if it is for everyone. There are far too many diversions and I'm not sure if the author had truly something to say apart from compiling quotes and thoughts from others. This is also one of the few occasions that I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if I read the printed version instead of listening to it. When I got to the half of the book, I was unfortunately tired of the voice and narration style of Gidel. A bit robotic, a bit condescending. I'd like to think that this impression is rectricted to the audiobook and not the "voice of the book" overall.
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