how-to-do-nothing.md (4044B)
1 +++ 2 title = "Bad Book Good Ideas" 3 date = 2025-02-22T15:15:00-08:00 4 [extra] 5 book = "How to Do Nothing" 6 author = "Jenny Odell" 7 finished = 2025-01-07 8 rating = "★★☆☆☆" 9 +++ 10 11 I was assigned Jenny Odell's *How to Do Nothing* as part of the [Three 12 Books] program. I didn't take a COLLEGE course in [the fall], so I have 13 relatively less of an idea if the program was taken seriously, but from 14 my perspective it was comprised of a) an email that told me it existed, 15 b\) a free book that was—I think—presented to me on my arrival to campus, 16 and c) no further mention of it ever. A long while later I decided to 17 read it. 18 19 There are discussions of great merit in *How to Do Nothing*—but they are 20 both poorly executed and tied to other beliefs that I disagree with, 21 which ultimately has created a work that mirrors the program that 22 recommended it: a core of goodness enveloped in the overgrown vines of 23 bad. 24 25 To address the former portion of my critique, I will turn to the common 26 adage that the hallmark of true understanding is being able to explain 27 something simply. Jenny Odell has not done that here. This book is a 28 wandering text with no driving argument. Whatever tidbits of knowledge 29 are to be found within it are sprinkled throughout at random intervals, 30 and then repeated, each time as if she has forgotten about any previous 31 mention. I felt as if I was reading a first draft the entire time. 32 33 To the latter half of my critique, what arguments are articulated in 34 *How to Do Nothing* are themselves something of a mixed bag. There are 35 portions that I resonated with strongly: 36 37 > I am personally unsatisfied with untrained attention, which flickers 38 > from one new thing to the next, not only because it is a shallow 39 > experience, or because it is an expression of habit rather than will, 40 > but because it gives me less access to my own human experience.<br/> 41 > *p. 119* 42 43 > Poswolsky writes of their initial discovery: "I think we also found 44 > the answer to the universe, which was, quite simply: just spend more 45 > time with your friends."<br/> 46 > *p. 34* 47 48 But they are often followed up with just terrible addenda. I suspect it 49 comes down to the following fundamental disagreement between myself and 50 Odell: 51 52 > ...I find existing things infinitely more interesting than anything I 53 > could possibly make.<br/> 54 > *p. 5* 55 56 This is what leads her to follow up potentially interesting 57 suppositions: 58 59 > The first half of "doing nothing" is about disengaging from the 60 > attention economy; the other half is about reengaging with something 61 > else.<br/> 62 > *p. xvii* 63 64 With nonsensical conclusions: 65 66 > That "something else" is nothing less than.... bioregionalism...<br/> 67 > *p. xvii* 68 69 This exchange in particular is typical of a type of thinking in the book 70 that I do not understand in the slightest, which prizes non-humans over 71 our own species and asceticism over greatness. That stance smacks of a 72 particular branch of Christian thought that sees "lesser" states as 73 inherently more "pure." The plant is prized over the person because it 74 is incapable of sin. The mendicant over the industrialist, because why 75 seek out anything in this world when the world to come is what matters. 76 This view does not move me. Let all of the righteous acts that Odell 77 proposes be done at scale as a testament to our glory. 78 79 > One thing I have learned about attention is that certain forms of it 80 > are contagious. When you spend enough time with someone who pays close 81 > attention to something... you inevitably start to pay attention to 82 > some of the same things.<br/> 83 > *p. xxiii* 84 85 > There is no such thing as a clean break or a blank slate in this 86 > world.<br/> 87 > *p. 53* 88 89 > "The explorer who will not come back or send back his ships to tell 90 > his tale is not an explorer, only an adventurer."<br/> 91 > *p. 55* 92 93 There are no limits to what we are capable of. Attention is the tool by 94 which that potential is made manifest. 95 96 [Three Books]: https://college.stanford.edu/three-books/three-books-archive 97 [the fall]: @/posts/stanford-quarterly-reflection-01/index.md