Synopsis

As Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. The Protestant work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them. But here, at last, is a book that can help. From Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the Idler, comes HOW TO BE IDLE, an antidote to the work-obsessed culture which puts so many obstacles between ourselves and our dreams. Hodgkinson presents us with a laid-back argument for a new contract between routine and chaos, an argument for experiencing life to the full and living in the moment. Ranging across a host of issues that may affect the modern idler sleep, the world of work, pleasure and hedonism, relationships, bohemian living, revolution he draws on the writings of such well-known apologists for idleness as Dr Johnson, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and Nietzsche. His message is clear: take control of your life and reclaim your right to be idle.

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。