The Secret World of Doing Nothing - Softcover

"[The authors] inspire readers to assess the potential mental value associated with commuting, daydreaming, completing routines, performing rituals, and more." Foreword This Week "The book provides us with timely material that may encourage us to continue to try to join up some of the dots in contemporary politics." -- Mary Evans Times Higher Education

In this insightful and pathbreaking reflection on 'doing nothing', Billy Ehn and Orvar Lofgren take us on a fascinating tour of what is happening when, to all appearances, absolutely nothing is happening. Sifting through a wide range of examples drawn from literature, published ethnographies, and firsthand research, they probe the unobserved moments in our daily lives - waiting for a bus, daydreaming by the window, performing a routine task - and illuminate these 'empty' times as full of significance. Creative, insightful, and profound, "The Secret World of Doing Nothing" leads us to rethink the ordinary and find meaning in today's hypermodern reality.