Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“attention forms the ground not just for love, but for ethics”

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

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CBR Bingo Square: GUIDE I got this in a CBR gift exchange…a couple years ago, maybe? And it has haunted me ever since as I kept finding reasons to read other things (I’m so busy with grading/researching! I’m in a nonfiction book club and those books keep taking up the nonfiction slot!). But after the spring semester wrapped, I went to South Africa to visit my sister, and I put this in my suitcase, determined to finally read it. And I did. And I liked it. I […]

Thought-Provoking and Meditative

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

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Best for: Those who are interested in being more intentional with their time and attention. In a nutshell: Artist and author Odell explores ways to be more intentional with our time, and how that relates to community and environment. Worth quoting: “That tiny, glowing world of metrics cannot compare to this one, which speaks to me instead in breezes, light and shadow, and the unruly, indescribably detail of the real.” “The impulse to say goodbye to it all, permanently, doesn’t just neglect our responsibility to […]

“If it’s attention (deciding what to pay attention to) that makes our reality, regaining control of it can also mean the discovery of new worlds and new ways of moving through them.”

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

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In one word: Cerebral Cannonball Read Bingo: Flora I found myself at the MOST adorable independent bookstore (swoon) and spent a delicious amount of time perusing the shelves. That day I was in a particular mood regarding my social media use, railing against the timesuck that for me is scrolling Facebook and Instagram. I was looking for some novel that I can no longer identify. They didn’t have it in stock, but I found this one instead. It had pretty good reviews on Goodreads (more […]

Nothing is harder, than to do nothing.

How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell

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I did like this book as a meditation on a problem, but it’s not “How to do nothing…” and it’s not an actionable plan. Instead it’s a polemic on a real problem in nice terms. Odell uses various ideas connected to Zen, philosophy, art, brain science, and radical detachment in various examples to try to address the fact that all of society (in broadly defined and inaccurate terms) is addicted to phones, tv, and computers. It’s funny because cultural critics from Neil Postman, Baudrillard, Zizek, […]

Alternative Title: The Privilege of Being Idle

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

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I am not one to languish. I am the first to admit to being a Type-A, planning, achieving, goal-setter. I don’t just have mere ‘new years resolutions’; I have developed a sophisticated yearly goal-hierarchy system, linked to a capstone Theme, with performance measures and time-frames. I have a calendar of monthly ‘deep clean’ priorities around my house (this month: screens!). I book in a monthly Money Date Night with my husband where we review our budget and update our Net Wealth spreadsheet. I closely track […]

“the potential of nothing is everything”

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell

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This book sat on my bedside table for six months. I looked at it every day, tucked it into my work bag on multiple occasions, and brought it with me on several trips but I was unable to open the cover. I was paralyzed by the guilt of being wrapped into the attention economy, and I did not feel like I was ready or able to give my meager time to “nothing” quite yet. I was wrong. I wish I had cracked it open the […]



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