The Idler's Companion: An Anthology of Lazy Literature

by Tom Hodgkinson (Editor), Matthew De Abaitua

The Idler's Companion combines amusing tributes to relaxation with earnest pleas for self-examination. The essays, poetry, and fiction excerpts in this delightful anthology are filled with convincing arguments for reclaiming our days from the monotony of the working world.

Genres: Fiction

215 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Tom Hodgkinson (b. 1968) is a British writer and the editor of The Idler, which he established in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. He was educated at Westminster School. He has contributed articles to The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian and The Sunday Times as well as being the author of The Idler spin-off How To Be Idle (2005), How To Be Free (released in the U.S. under the title The Freedom Manifesto) and The Idle Parent.

In 2006 Hodgkinson created National Unawareness Day, to be celebrated on 1 November.

Reviews

[Gille Liath · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book like this ought to be fun, but somehow it isn’t. First there’s the guilt attached to even owning it (and thus owning up), accentuated by its attention-catching bright yellow cover. And then, there’s too much apologising for idleness, the socio-economic implications, how it is really a public good after all, rather than people just enjoying it. I guess the true idler doesn’t argue about idleness, he just idles. Maybe that’s why the editor (also editor of the Idler magazine) says he is ‘still unsuccessfully trying to avoid work’.

Then there’s a curious snippet from Pascal, who says that he hasn’t read all the books he quotes but gets other people to supply him with the nuggets. Now, that’s all very well for Pascal, who was reading in order to do his own thinking and writing – the quotes were only a means to an end. But is the editor of this anthology hinting that he didn’t perform the central task of compiling it – choosing the extracts – himself? There’s idling, and then there’s taking people for mugs.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology indeed. A variety of essays and excerpts spanning centuries on varied ideas of leisure. My favorite sections were The Monk and the Unemployed.

[Joonas Kiviranta · Rating 5 out of 5]

perfect

[Harri Lammi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sekalainen kokoelma tylsähköjä pätkiä sieltä täältä

[MM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to find this collection but excerpts ultimately unsatisfying.

[Robin Imperial]

lost interest and too lazy to finish it

[Elizabeth Lund]

50 essays; only one by a woman, and that one about sex.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting excerpts but most of them are too short to do much more than whet the appetite.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just wasn't interested, so I quit.