Book Review: "How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy" By Jenny Odell

One of my biggest issues in reading a book labeled as 'self help' is determining the purpose and motivation of the author prior to reading.

I've found over the years that condensing fancy lingo into simplistic terminology so that everyone of every nationality, color, creed, or economic factors can understand and readily relate is imperative.

Comprehension is quite easily thoughtful, reflective, and all encompassing if you can utilize a familiar and productive means of signifying its importance to all.
Upon reading this book I felt it could be summed up with three words: Watch, Listen, and Learn!

How often do we take the time to ponder in the Rose Garden? To attend a public park? A public museum? A local library?

How often do we wonder what may become of those facilities, events, meetings, zoom chats without having access to technology, without being prevy to political norms, without being enticed by socio or economic factors that are available to everyone in the community?
Prior to cracking this one open I read some reviews to get a feel for what I was in for in terms of this book.

The introduction is a must read because it felt to me as if some of my fellow reviewers may have either skipped it over or refused to acknowledge the topics for discussion and the methods used for retrieval and research of such information being presented here.
Digital detox sounds great but could many of us survive? Could you simply turn it off and tune it out?

How would day to day survival be affected if we simply took time to smell the roses and ponder the meaning of life in a productive manner by focusing on past historical events, authors, writers, historians, politicians, artists, poets, and the like?
The other notes," I find myself gravitating towards these kinds of spaces libraries, small museums, gardens, columbaroa- because of the way they unfold secret and multifarious perspectives even within a fairly small area."
"If you can afford to pay a different kind of attention, you should."

Therefore, the relationship between discipline and attention should be addressed with relative importance to bio regionalism.
Human interaction need not be limited, condensed, or tossed out as we must possess it for growth and well being.

Ecology and biological desertification combined with the cultural desertification is what the author notes for further discussion.

Prioritize and protect our public parks, libraries, museums and such because work as industry and reproduction is much like nature's work that aligns with environmental politics.
So, there you have it -take it or leave it- but remember we're all in this together.
While many will look at Jenny's upbringing and note she's in San Francisco bay area currently residing in Oakland with her boyfriend not everyone has the same opportunities when in this state of anxiety, stress, and fear for which the author mentions repeatedly.
I'd have to agree and note that while we don't all come from similar demographics we do all share similar goals and ideas.

We can build upon such with respect, mutual understanding, and exclusivity rather than the hate, anger, and constant state of flux we find on social media today that pulls toward a mass market mob mentality.

Here's to good health!