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Sloth: The Seven Deadly Sins by Wendy Wasserstein
Here is a rollicking parody of the self-help genre, one that skewers the couch-bound, apathetic mentality so pervasive in America today. With tongue in cheek, Sloth guides readers step-by-step toward a life of noncommittal inertia. "You have the right to be lazy," writes Wasserstein. "You can choose not to respond. You can choose not to move." Readers will find out the importance of Lethargiosis--the process of eliminating energy and drive, the vital first step in becoming a sloth. To help you attain the perfect state of indolent bliss, the book offers a wealth of self-help aids. Readers will find the sloth songbook, sloth breakfast bars (packed with sugar, additives, and a delicious touch of Ambien), sloth documentaries (such as the author's 12-hour epic on Thomas Aquinas), and the sloth network, channel 823, programming guaranteed not to stimulate or challenge in any way. ("It may be difficult to distinguish between this and other channels, but only on channel 823 can you watch me sleeping.") Readers will also learn the top ten lies about Sloth, the ten commandments of Sloth, the SLOTH mantra, even the "too-much ten"--over-achievers such as Marie Curie, Shakespeare, and William the Conqueror. You will discover how to become a sloth in your diet, exercise, work, and even love-life (true love leads to passion, she warns, and passion is the biggest enemy of sloth). Wendy Wasserstein is one of America's great comic writers--one who always has a serious point to her humor. Here, as she pokes fun at the self-help industry, she also satirizes the legion of Americans who are cultural and political sloths.
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First published December 6, 2004
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About the author
Wendy Wasserstein
57 books72 followersWendy Wasserstein was an award-winning American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She was the recipient of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
December 19, 2017
Writing about sloth in the context of a self-help book parody is a great concept! There are some genuine laughs here, and the book is oddly faithful to the genre it skewers. Oddly for such a small book, there's sections that just seem like dead weight, and some of the jokes -- especially those that reference more serious topics, like depression or terrorism -- just don't work and seem out of place.
April 4, 2018
آرام باشید! خوشحال باشید! خودتان را رها کنید! این کتاب یادتان میدهد که چطور این کارها را انجام دهید. برنامه تنپروری از آن برنامههای غذایی یا ورزشی معمولی نیست. تنپروری فلسفهای است که کل زندگیتان را از امروز به بعد دگرگون خواهد کرد. تنپروری رو به رشدترین سبک زندگی در تمام دنیاست، و این امر به سبب قابلیتهای بالای آن است.
واسراشتاین، نویسنده این کتاب، یکی از طنزنویسان بزرگ آمریکا بود ــ کسی که همواره در نثر طنزآمیزش شمههایی از جدیت را به نمایش میگذاشت.
واسراشتاین، نویسنده این کتاب، یکی از طنزنویسان بزرگ آمریکا بود ــ کسی که همواره در نثر طنزآمیزش شمههایی از جدیت را به نمایش میگذاشت.
February 2, 2025
I fear I read this book twenty years too late. The “cutting humour” of the early aughts doesn’t translate well (to me), and I don’t seem to be the right demographic for this book (a chronically overworked metropolitan American with a couple of children, a job they dislike and a spouse they stopped loving roughly three years ago).
This book was gifted to me 16 (!) years ago, and I never felt like reading it. I finally picked it up because I enjoyed satirical self-help books in the past. Unfortunately this one won’t be added to that list. To me, it was painfully on the nose and, dare I say it, a little cringe.
There was a point made in the final chapter though, except the writer quickly turned away from that bit of poignancy in favour of being funny again.
This book was gifted to me 16 (!) years ago, and I never felt like reading it. I finally picked it up because I enjoyed satirical self-help books in the past. Unfortunately this one won’t be added to that list. To me, it was painfully on the nose and, dare I say it, a little cringe.
There was a point made in the final chapter though, except the writer quickly turned away from that bit of poignancy in favour of being funny again.
September 28, 2018
امیدوارم کتاب های دیگرِ این مجموعه به این بدی نباشند. فقط سعی میکرد بخنداند و در آن هم موفق نبود. گاهی لبخند میزدم که آن هم از فرط بیمزگی اش بود. در حقیقت این لبخند از گریه هم غم انگیزتر بود. 😅 نهایت پیامی که داشت میشد این باشد که انسان امروزی رفته رفته تن پرور شده است، آن هم تن پرور فرهنگی و سیاسی.
January 2, 2010
This series by Oxford University Press on "The Seven Deadly Sins" looked interesting, but "Sloth" did not fulfill any expectations.
It was supposed to be funny, I know. I even could tell how and where it was supposed to be funny. But it seemed endlessly repetitive and whiney and pointless instead.
Who wants to support capitalist greed or the result of self-centered striving? (well ok, I could name a few people, but...) I agree, organized religion is mostly a sham. For most of us, dreams are just...dreams. Connections, looks, money--they all trump hard work. Our lives are overscheduled, we need to slow down.
But...this tongue-in-cheek advice is for the priveleged few. For most of the world, not working is not surviving. It's not a joke.
I don't often give up on books, but this one beat me half way through.
It was supposed to be funny, I know. I even could tell how and where it was supposed to be funny. But it seemed endlessly repetitive and whiney and pointless instead.
Who wants to support capitalist greed or the result of self-centered striving? (well ok, I could name a few people, but...) I agree, organized religion is mostly a sham. For most of us, dreams are just...dreams. Connections, looks, money--they all trump hard work. Our lives are overscheduled, we need to slow down.
But...this tongue-in-cheek advice is for the priveleged few. For most of the world, not working is not surviving. It's not a joke.
I don't often give up on books, but this one beat me half way through.
July 16, 2009
Funny in many places and yet the funny I expected, perhaps needed, to find herein, I didn't. I wanted laugh out loud, extensive chuckling not choke, spit occasional bursts. Picky, picky as Pat Paulsen would say to that. This is a very well-done parody with plenty of sarcasm in it's basic fiber and so true that it hurts even when at its funniest. Still I think I wanted something more, something else, as well and I'm not sure what that was exactly. Thus I'm giving it the basic okay -- which for me means -- it wasn't hitting on all cylinders for whatever reason. The possibility exists that it's my own timing that was off and not the book's.
September 2, 2019
A fine excuse for some much-needed social satire
Sloth, ah yes, sloth. (By the way, both pronunciations, sloth with a long "o" to rhyme with "both," and sloth with a short "o" to rhyme with "moth" are correct.) It's one of the seven deadly sins and this is one of seven books on them commissioned by the Oxford University Press and the New York Public Library. The books are all short and neat and beautifully presented. Each grew out of lectures sponsored by Oxford and the library.
Here we have Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein championing the cause of sloth as she parodies self-help tomes (she has apparently read a few) while satirizing the mass culture (and of course herself) to the reader's delight.
Wasserstein is not so much knockdown funny as she is entertaining. There are a few belly laughs and a number of chuckles, but mostly there is the sense that she is actually saying something of value about who we are and where we're going.
Clearly Wasserstein knows human foibles and she knows the seduction of the mass culture and especially that nasty admonition from others (especially your parents) to "make something of yourself." Ironically, while Wasserstein has indeed made something of herself, here--tongue only partially in cheek--she strongly advises you to just hang out on the couch. She has an "Activity Gram Counter" that limits you to 50 grams of activity a day. Eating a Krispy Kreme donut along with Sleepytime tea costs you 5 grams, the same as watching the Cartoon Network on TV, while reading the New York Times will set you back 30 grams. Not to worry, reading People Magazine rates a minus 5 grams, but watch out for those "Great turn-of-the-century Russian novels," the reading of which costs you a whopping 100 grams a session. In essence this is a celebration of sloth as the way to health and happiness, a stress-free life, a better world, and most importantly, a better YOU.
I think the book was mostly successful and I enjoyed reading it. However Wendy's assumption of a male self-help guru persona was not consistently maintained and should never have been employed since (1) it added nothing; (2) could not in any way disguise Wasserstein's unique voice; and (3) made for some confusion since it was obvious that the most telling observations came from a femme point of view. And this despite the fact that some of the humor revolves around an ambiguous sexual orientation; e.g., her persona claims that in high school he dated both men and women and believed that he "was going to be a father and a mother" and as president of the US "would have a charming First Lady" by his side "and be escorted by a poet laureate husband." (Random thought: if either Hillary Clinton or Condi Rice becomes the first woman president of the United States, will either's husband be the "First Gentleman"?)
Accompanying the text is some charming artwork by Serge Bloch, most of it line drawings, one of which appears on the cover, that of an amazingly relaxed and blissful stick-figure man in a hammock.
Wasserstein claims that reading this book only costs two activity grams and that rereading it is a "Sloth Zone Activity" resulting in a negative 25 grams. I hate to tell her but I read it while peddling my exercise bike.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
Sloth, ah yes, sloth. (By the way, both pronunciations, sloth with a long "o" to rhyme with "both," and sloth with a short "o" to rhyme with "moth" are correct.) It's one of the seven deadly sins and this is one of seven books on them commissioned by the Oxford University Press and the New York Public Library. The books are all short and neat and beautifully presented. Each grew out of lectures sponsored by Oxford and the library.
Here we have Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein championing the cause of sloth as she parodies self-help tomes (she has apparently read a few) while satirizing the mass culture (and of course herself) to the reader's delight.
Wasserstein is not so much knockdown funny as she is entertaining. There are a few belly laughs and a number of chuckles, but mostly there is the sense that she is actually saying something of value about who we are and where we're going.
Clearly Wasserstein knows human foibles and she knows the seduction of the mass culture and especially that nasty admonition from others (especially your parents) to "make something of yourself." Ironically, while Wasserstein has indeed made something of herself, here--tongue only partially in cheek--she strongly advises you to just hang out on the couch. She has an "Activity Gram Counter" that limits you to 50 grams of activity a day. Eating a Krispy Kreme donut along with Sleepytime tea costs you 5 grams, the same as watching the Cartoon Network on TV, while reading the New York Times will set you back 30 grams. Not to worry, reading People Magazine rates a minus 5 grams, but watch out for those "Great turn-of-the-century Russian novels," the reading of which costs you a whopping 100 grams a session. In essence this is a celebration of sloth as the way to health and happiness, a stress-free life, a better world, and most importantly, a better YOU.
I think the book was mostly successful and I enjoyed reading it. However Wendy's assumption of a male self-help guru persona was not consistently maintained and should never have been employed since (1) it added nothing; (2) could not in any way disguise Wasserstein's unique voice; and (3) made for some confusion since it was obvious that the most telling observations came from a femme point of view. And this despite the fact that some of the humor revolves around an ambiguous sexual orientation; e.g., her persona claims that in high school he dated both men and women and believed that he "was going to be a father and a mother" and as president of the US "would have a charming First Lady" by his side "and be escorted by a poet laureate husband." (Random thought: if either Hillary Clinton or Condi Rice becomes the first woman president of the United States, will either's husband be the "First Gentleman"?)
Accompanying the text is some charming artwork by Serge Bloch, most of it line drawings, one of which appears on the cover, that of an amazingly relaxed and blissful stick-figure man in a hammock.
Wasserstein claims that reading this book only costs two activity grams and that rereading it is a "Sloth Zone Activity" resulting in a negative 25 grams. I hate to tell her but I read it while peddling my exercise bike.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
May 21, 2021
If you've been reading my recent reviews, you might discern a theme of idleness, doing nothing, an objection to being someone other than yourself, which may lead to charges of slothfulness.
"Sloth" is a difficult word: in my education you had to be told how to pronounce it – "sloath" really as opposed to what it appears on paper and perhaps a problem for phonetics cultists. The nuns who taught me in primary (elementary) school warned about being idle and thus being vulnerable to the devil's machinations; cynics might present this as an attempt to get you to avoid reflection, or being in the moment.
Wendy Wasserstein, of whom I knew nothing until coming across this book, wants to tell us about sloth, in a kind of parody or satire of a self-help book. In the process we get a brief history of this term as a sin, for which we apparently should hold Aquinas to account and which also seems to be a precursor to more rigid views about godly behaviour. In Australian culture, not dealt with here, the idea is to be always working, whilst complaining about it, or even avoiding it. A friend of mine somewhat grittily tells me he has to always be doing something.
I've never really been convinced of this perspective and am prepared to be labelled as "lazy" in that context, although there's a lot to do at the moment and any avoidance is merely putting things off until later, or at least it seems that way.
I read this book as a deliberate attempt to avoid the currently overwhelming tasks that need to be completed, and it was so successful that i dozed off for an hour or so in the afternoon, whilst in the process of reading it, thus fulfilling the intentions of the author.
This is an extremely funny book, perhaps even if you are a self-help fan. The author skewers many of the presumptions of the genre both in an introduction and the greaqt body of the text which purports to be something written by a guru of sloth, who claims that it will save your life.
There's a point to this, as the idea is that you don't do anything and so you're committed to nothing, even pen-pictures of people whose lives ended up in tragedy because of their ambitions. and various steps to follow (including ratings) on the way to slothfulness and relevant advice.
Somewhat amusingly, there's a final chapter about "uberslothdom" which refers to those attracted to and engaging in vapid interests and behaviours, online and elsewhere. A kind of emptiness, if you like.
This is a very funny book and I laughed a lot. It's also apparently part of a series, of which I know nothing. The other books have a lot to live up to on the basis of this one, and it may be 15 years old, but what it says is still more than relevant. And it's only an hour or so of your time, excluding a relaxing nap, of course.
"Sloth" is a difficult word: in my education you had to be told how to pronounce it – "sloath" really as opposed to what it appears on paper and perhaps a problem for phonetics cultists. The nuns who taught me in primary (elementary) school warned about being idle and thus being vulnerable to the devil's machinations; cynics might present this as an attempt to get you to avoid reflection, or being in the moment.
Wendy Wasserstein, of whom I knew nothing until coming across this book, wants to tell us about sloth, in a kind of parody or satire of a self-help book. In the process we get a brief history of this term as a sin, for which we apparently should hold Aquinas to account and which also seems to be a precursor to more rigid views about godly behaviour. In Australian culture, not dealt with here, the idea is to be always working, whilst complaining about it, or even avoiding it. A friend of mine somewhat grittily tells me he has to always be doing something.
I've never really been convinced of this perspective and am prepared to be labelled as "lazy" in that context, although there's a lot to do at the moment and any avoidance is merely putting things off until later, or at least it seems that way.
I read this book as a deliberate attempt to avoid the currently overwhelming tasks that need to be completed, and it was so successful that i dozed off for an hour or so in the afternoon, whilst in the process of reading it, thus fulfilling the intentions of the author.
This is an extremely funny book, perhaps even if you are a self-help fan. The author skewers many of the presumptions of the genre both in an introduction and the greaqt body of the text which purports to be something written by a guru of sloth, who claims that it will save your life.
There's a point to this, as the idea is that you don't do anything and so you're committed to nothing, even pen-pictures of people whose lives ended up in tragedy because of their ambitions. and various steps to follow (including ratings) on the way to slothfulness and relevant advice.
Somewhat amusingly, there's a final chapter about "uberslothdom" which refers to those attracted to and engaging in vapid interests and behaviours, online and elsewhere. A kind of emptiness, if you like.
This is a very funny book and I laughed a lot. It's also apparently part of a series, of which I know nothing. The other books have a lot to live up to on the basis of this one, and it may be 15 years old, but what it says is still more than relevant. And it's only an hour or so of your time, excluding a relaxing nap, of course.
July 7, 2019
This book presents itself as a self-help instruction to the sloth lifestyle, in a very satirical fashion. While I did find it humorous, there were some parts that seemed repetitive or did not add much.
I was slightly disappointed, as the other books in the Seven Deadly Sins series had much more background on the respective sins, and included multi-disciplinary approaches (i.e. historical, psychological, religious, philosophical, etc.). Sloth included almost none of these elements.
Even though the book did not meet my expectations (or the standards set by the other books in the series), I did have a good laugh.
I was slightly disappointed, as the other books in the Seven Deadly Sins series had much more background on the respective sins, and included multi-disciplinary approaches (i.e. historical, psychological, religious, philosophical, etc.). Sloth included almost none of these elements.
Even though the book did not meet my expectations (or the standards set by the other books in the series), I did have a good laugh.
November 6, 2018
This book originated from a lecture Wasserstein was asked to present on one of the seven deadly sins. She wrote it as a satire on self-help books – how the sloth life-style is best. Although the book only partially works as satire, I have obviously thoroughly embraced the sloth style & attitude that Wasserstein endorses – as I had to renew my borrowing of this book 20 times (no, that wasn’t a typo – really 20!) before completing it! And, then I only finished it because the library would not let me renew it again.
February 28, 2024
This was such a silly book. I honestly really enjoyed it and did so in a single sitting. It’s great satirical entertainment and when viewed in an “opposite-day” lens it provides decent advice. Also, the fact that the societal commentary is almost two decades dated and still applies now more than ever is astounding.
March 7, 2023
The Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Wendy Wasserstein, pans both the self-help industry and sloth in this installment in the New York Public Library's series on the 7 Deadly Sins. Wasserstein writes this as if it's a self-help book on how to embrace sloth. Clever and funny.
November 22, 2017
Not funny. Not clever. Not interesting. Not worth reading.
June 30, 2019
Strange little parody. Made me laugh a few times.
May 15, 2023
Made me want to give up on this series.
August 14, 2024
I found this quite interesting
October 26, 2025
I read this book at a coffee shop while avoiding laundry, dishes in the sink, and next week’s Capacity Modeling Report. What do I win?
December 28, 2021
The best little book for those in our lives, including ourselves, that need to take themselves a little less seriously, and take relaxation for all its worth.
Written as a revised, and expanded self-help book, "Sloth- and how to get it", the hyperbole makes the point that there is no need to focus so much on achievement when you haven't gotten to enjoy it. This greatly reminded me of the Western interpretation of some Taoist texts that praise the efforts of those that do no strive-- thus, nothing is left undone, and nothing gone wrong. The attainment of Lethargiosis is paramount; that is no reason, large or small, to get up.
Only a few pages over 100, it is a fast, and amusing afternoon's read.
This is part of an entire Seven Deadly Sins lecture series sponsored by the New York City Library and Oxford Press. I will have to gobble each of these up.
I hit the mid-point of the book and decided that the running joke was over-played so I quit, and went on to reader other books I found much more engaging.
Written as a revised, and expanded self-help book, "Sloth- and how to get it", the hyperbole makes the point that there is no need to focus so much on achievement when you haven't gotten to enjoy it. This greatly reminded me of the Western interpretation of some Taoist texts that praise the efforts of those that do no strive-- thus, nothing is left undone, and nothing gone wrong. The attainment of Lethargiosis is paramount; that is no reason, large or small, to get up.
Only a few pages over 100, it is a fast, and amusing afternoon's read.
This is part of an entire Seven Deadly Sins lecture series sponsored by the New York City Library and Oxford Press. I will have to gobble each of these up.
I hit the mid-point of the book and decided that the running joke was over-played so I quit, and went on to reader other books I found much more engaging.
August 26, 2007
This gently funny book, in the style of a self-help manual, satirizes the advice and personal improvement messages we're immersed in. Written in the earnest voice of "a regular guy whose life was totally changed by sloth," Wasserstein lays out the Sloth Plan, which promotes "stationary sex" over active sex, reading People over the New York Times, and choosing Cheetos over a grilled fish dinner in a program designed to help the devotee empty her mind, save energy, opt out of competition, and "eliminate the nagging tug of passion, creativity, and individual drive" (107).
Ah, Wasserstein has a purpose with this book. Without moralizing, she shows the underside of society's feverish pursuits. When I picked up the "Sunday Styles" section of the paper today, I couldn't help but read all the chat about parties, clothes, and fancy weddings through her lens. More crafty than weighty, Sloth makes you chuckle, and think.
Ah, Wasserstein has a purpose with this book. Without moralizing, she shows the underside of society's feverish pursuits. When I picked up the "Sunday Styles" section of the paper today, I couldn't help but read all the chat about parties, clothes, and fancy weddings through her lens. More crafty than weighty, Sloth makes you chuckle, and think.
December 22, 2024
The oddest entry I've read so far in the Seven Deadlies series. She was a great writer, very funny and honest, and my hat's off to her for taking this wildly different approach to dissecting the subject matter. I think these were done as talks, too, and I'll bet this would have been a very funny talk. But as satire on the page, it wears thin quickly.
UPDATE 2024 re-read:
I really tried to set aside my previous experience with this installment in the NYPL/OUP series. The only good thing I can say regarding Wasserstein's approach is that it was (no pun intended) novel. And yes, she undoubtedly (most likely?) she killed the lecture piece of the assignment. Sadly, even this short book was waaaaaay too long. This is maybe a 500 to 750-word throwaway piece. Ah, me.
UPDATE 2024 re-read:
I really tried to set aside my previous experience with this installment in the NYPL/OUP series. The only good thing I can say regarding Wasserstein's approach is that it was (no pun intended) novel. And yes, she undoubtedly (most likely?) she killed the lecture piece of the assignment. Sadly, even this short book was waaaaaay too long. This is maybe a 500 to 750-word throwaway piece. Ah, me.
April 10, 2015
About 30% very funny, 30% ehhh funny, and 30% thuds. You can assign the remaining 10% to whatever category strikes your fancy, but I think that's a pretty accurate general distribution. The chief problem is that this is a book at all. Lebowitz or Markoe could have handled this in a tidy essay of no more than ten pages (Merrill) or ten sentences (Fran).
Wendy Wasserstein was funny enough, but she lacked the consistency of the above two, to say nothing of the extremely underrated Jean Kerr. I recommend this as your carry on in the subway or other forms of public transportation. You can finish it by the time you come to your stop, and you will have grinned several times.
Wendy Wasserstein was funny enough, but she lacked the consistency of the above two, to say nothing of the extremely underrated Jean Kerr. I recommend this as your carry on in the subway or other forms of public transportation. You can finish it by the time you come to your stop, and you will have grinned several times.
July 5, 2016
I should have read the other reviews more closely before I picked this short book up. Unfortunately, this is a one note joke which is very amusing in the Introduction and goes down hill from there.
Wasserstein delivered this as a talk at The New York Public Library. I am guessing that if I had heard the lecture at NYPL, I would have been rolling on the floor. Wasserstein writes plays and I suspect that her sense of timing is excellent. However, that does not necessarily translate to a book.
Since I picked this up on a day when I was being especially slothful, it was not a total waste. I had a few hours entertainment.
Wasserstein delivered this as a talk at The New York Public Library. I am guessing that if I had heard the lecture at NYPL, I would have been rolling on the floor. Wasserstein writes plays and I suspect that her sense of timing is excellent. However, that does not necessarily translate to a book.
Since I picked this up on a day when I was being especially slothful, it was not a total waste. I had a few hours entertainment.
January 18, 2010
เล่มนี้ต่างจากเล่ม 'อิจฉา' ตรงที่เขียนเป็นหนังสือฮาวทูยั่วล้อหนังสือฮาวทูทั้งหลาย (เล่มอิจฉาเขียนเป็นหนังสือ non-fic ธรรมดา ส่วนเล่มอื่นยังไม่เคยอ่าน) ชื่อว่า "ความเกียจคร้าน และวิธีการเพื่อให้ได้มา" ล้อกันตั้งกะคำนำ ตลกดี แต่ขนบการเขียนเหมือนฮาวทูมากจนติดความน่ารำคาญมาด้วย
ก่อนจะตลบหลังผู้อ่านตอนท้าย ด้วยการแนะนำ 'อภิมนุษย์เกียจคร้านยุคนิวเอจ' หมายถึงมนุษย์ยุคศตวรรษที่ 21 ผู้บ้ากิจกรรม ทำตัวเองให้ยุ่งจนจิตวิญญาณก้าวสู่ภาวะง่วงงุนถาวร
"..เหมือนกันกับชีวิตเกียจคร้าน นั่นคือ ไร้ความหมายไม่ต่างกัน"
ก่อนจะตลบหลังผู้อ่านตอนท้าย ด้วยการแนะนำ 'อภิมนุษย์เกียจคร้านยุคนิวเอจ' หมายถึงมนุษย์ยุคศตวรรษที่ 21 ผู้บ้ากิจกรรม ทำตัวเองให้ยุ่งจนจิตวิญญาณก้าวสู่ภาวะง่วงงุนถาวร
"..เหมือนกันกับชีวิตเกียจคร้าน นั่นคือ ไร้ความหมายไม่ต่างกัน"
August 31, 2012
Written as a self-help book to "encourage" the embracing of sloth, the book is mildly funny and gets in its digs on modern society. I appreciate Wasserstein's awareness that our society's busyness can also be slothful. What this book is missing is a deeper historical awareness of sloth - its connections to depression and to a lack of love, very different from days spent in front of the TV. So a fine skim along the surface book, but missing real wisdom and engagement with the historical meaning of sloth.
March 8, 2008
Sloth is my favorite deadly sin, but alas, the best thing about this book was the illustration of the lazy hammock guy. Probably really funny to the kind of people who think New Yorker cartoons are laugh-out-loud funny. But thinking about the sloth bit from Saturday Night Live is actually funny, so I'll do that now: "Hire a dog to burn down a hospital! Eat cocaine off America's gravestone!" I love sloth and sloths.
March 12, 2016
I finally got around to reading this.
I read it lying down.
I could write a book like this.
But my book would be called, Imbelicity and You. Or, The Art of Stupidity Made Easy. Or, I Was a Teenage Idiot. Or, Don't Know Much About--What Was It? Or, You Too Can Be a Complete Nincompoop.
And have the pages be blank inside.
This is material for The Onion. Funny. Even if it got a little old.
I read it lying down.
I could write a book like this.
But my book would be called, Imbelicity and You. Or, The Art of Stupidity Made Easy. Or, I Was a Teenage Idiot. Or, Don't Know Much About--What Was It? Or, You Too Can Be a Complete Nincompoop.
And have the pages be blank inside.
This is material for The Onion. Funny. Even if it got a little old.
November 5, 2010
Okay, so the premise had promise. That's all the book had going for it. Seriously, when I found the list in the back of the book with 'sloth ratings' for everyday activities more interesting than the text...you know something's wrong.
July 10, 2012
I wanted to love this book as much as I loved Wendy & her other works. It was delightfully sneakily scathing but too drawn-out to have maximum impact. It would be great if abridged as an essay on our New Age slothness of appearing busy but really just being mindlessly active.
April 2, 2016
Rule #1 of Sloth: Do not clean up. "Putting something away creates double work, because you'll only need to take it out again next time you need it. The more accessible everything is, the easier your life will be."
April 1, 2015
I feel like I should have enjoyed this book more than I did and I suspect that reading a parody self-help book about sloth while being incredibly busy was probably bad timing on my part. May have to give it a re-read at a later date in time.
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