With advice, information, and reflection on such matters as lying in, long lunches, the art of the nap, and how to skive, How to Be Idle gives you all the inspiration you need to take a break from your fast-paced, overworked life.</p>

From the founding editor of the <em>The Idler</em>, the celebrated magazine about the freedom and fine art of doing nothing, comes not simply a book, but an antidote to our work-obsessed culture. In How to Be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson presents his learned yet whimsical argument for a new universal standard of living: being happy doing nothing. He covers a whole spectrum of issues affecting the modern idler -- sleep, work, pleasure, relationships -- bemoaning the cultural skepticism of idleness while reflecting on the writing of such famous apologists for it as Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Johnson, and Nietzsche -- all of whom have admitted to doing their very best work in bed.</p>

It's a well-known fact that Europeans spend fewer hours at work a week than Americans. So it's only befitting that one of them -- the very clever, extremely engaging, and quite hilarious Hodgkinson -- should have the wittiest and most useful insights into the fun and nature of loafing.</p>

Who wouldn't want to blow off work for a day and just "be idle"? The key to a life of pleasure, freedom, and guilt-free lounging around is in your hands.</p>

英國作傢，生於1968年，少年就讀威斯敏斯特學校，於1993年創辦《閑人》雜誌。《星期日電訊報》、《衛報》、《星期日泰晤士報》撰稿人。最新力作《如何做個自由的人》（how to be free）於2006年10月付梓（上海三聯書店即齣中文版）。此君正一如既往地做著先前做的事……或者更準確地說，什麼都不做……悠哉遊哉地過著他的日子：編雜誌、寫文章、辦Party和各種各樣好玩的事情。現居英國德文郡。