Episode 191: An Apology For Idlers

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Today’s society values industry and work, specifically hard and grueling work. This has happened before. We should look to 1877, where good advice was given in an essay, the title of which I've stolen for this Episode 191: An Apology For Idlers.

In this episode, I read from: my computer's quickie dictionary; the original 1877 essay bearing the title "An Apology for Idlers" by Robert Lewis Stevenson; Daniel Markovits' book, The Meritocracy Trap: How America's Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite; Annie's Box^* by Randall Keynes; Passionate Minds^* by David Bodanis; The Big Test by Nicholas Lemann; and tiny, unquoted bits from Evolution's Captain: the Dark Fate of the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World by Peter Nichols, and one of Jane Austen's books (probably Pride and Prejudice).

I play throughout a snippet from Episode 1, Season 1 of Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Musically, I play: Podington Bear's "Gamma Ray". KMFDM backs Douglass Rushkoff in the beginning^*; and I close today with Julie and Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".

[NB: My local library did not have two of the references, and I carelessly misplaced the source for the new Rushkoff intro. I regret my oversight. I will edit this and include it as soon as possible. I doubt I will be able to do anything, though, about my library's oversight, since they are really good books that people in Seattle really should read.]

Episode 190: How To Do Nothing

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With all the bad news in which we wallow, it's natural to feel the need to do something. Sadly, that is just what the people who got that news to you would like you to do. Better instead to follow the advice of today's Episode 190: How To Do Nothing.

In this episode, I read from Jenny O'Dell's book, How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. There's lots more in her book that I was unable to even touch on, some of which she touches on in an interview.

I play: Podington Bear doing "Flutterby". Tristan Harris opens the show backed by KMFDM; and I close with Mistle Thrush.