Not Working
Douban
Why We Have to Stop
Josh Cohen
overview
We live in a culture that demonizes idleness. Work, connectivity and a constant flow of information are the cultural norms. We are exhausted - but we fear pausing, in case we look lazy. In Not Working, psychoanalyst Josh Cohen explores the paradoxical pleasures of inactivity, arguing that a good life requires freedom from the demand to be perpetually active. Drawing on his personal experiences and on stories from his consulting room, Cohen asks: how might we live a different and more fulfilled existence?
contents
Introduction
Part One: Gravity
1 The Burnout 'People are working every minute': Andy Warhol
2 The Slob 'This huge hill of flesh': Orson Welles
Part Two: Antigravity
3 The Daydreamer 'I Dwell in Possibility': Emily Dickinson
4 The Slacker 'Enduring tedium': David Foster Wallace
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliogrphy
Acknowledgements
Permissons
Index
