Title: How to be Idle
Author: Tom Hodgkinson
Genre: Self Help/ Humour (but really common sense)
Lazy cliche: An instruction manual for the modern idler.
Within the one broad theme of ‘Idleness’, Hodgkinson manages to encompass so many neglegted yet important facets of life. Our need to work less and play more is justified in a very well written book using examples and quotes from some great thinkers through history.
The greatest strength of this book is that it gives you a warm feeling that things you enjoy – beer gardens, sleeping etc – are actually really good for you. The guilt associated with not working so many hours per week, or needing to get up early to do DIY, are actually relics from the industrial revolution. This era of mass production with time as a mere commodity can be changed if people take on board the ideas of this book and adjust their lives to suit their soul and not their bank balance.
The book is divided into neat sections, each with a well placed quote, this makes it easy to read when visiting the toilet or having a bath. Although the tone is humourous and flippant I think you can take a serious message from How to be Idle. I think Tom Hodgkinson should be commended for his bravery in taking on outdated and traditional thinking methods. Most people still work as if there is a war on, or of the British Empire is still steaming ahead. In reality we should realise that most modern practices do little to further our health, families, and general wellbeing.
It sits amongst other slow living titles very easily and continues a growing trend of questioning why we still live the Victorians. Who would I recommend this book to? Well…, everyone really.
The Happy Wanderer 