Doing Nothing
I recently stumbled upon an interesting book; Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America by Tom Lutz. It’s a book that counters the idea that to be productive and/or hard working in life, you must act like a work-a-holic and never relax. Lutz cites both historically accredited productive individuals such as Ben Franklin and Samuel Johnson to those that opposed long work days like Kerouac and Ginsberg.
Don’t take Lutz’s book out of context, though. The point is not to praise idleness, rather, to embrace “doing nothing” from time to time as being human nature. Productivity is not solely a function of time, though the clock makes up a large portion of that equation. At least that’s what I’d like to think to justify my play time.
2 Comments
I was just ego-surfing instead of working and saw your comment about my book. Thanks! Take the rest of the day off!
Tom Lutz
Wow, this book seems like it would be right up my ally. I honestly think hard work is somewhat evil.
I see a future where people no longer work… at least not in the sense of what we call work today.