Yawn: Adventures in Boredom

by Mary Mann

The incisive and often hilarious story of one of our most interesting cultural boredom

It’s the feeling your grandma told you was only experienced by boring people. Some people say they’re dying of it; others claim to have killed because of it. It’s a key component of depression, creativity, and sex-toy advertisements.

It’s boredom, the subject of Yawn, a delightful and at times moving take on the oft-derided emotion and how we deal with it. Deftly wrought from interviews, research, and personal experience, Yawn follows Mary Mann’s search through history for the truth about boredom, spanning the globe, introducing a varied cast of characters. The Desert Fathers—fourth-century Christian monks who made their homes far from civilization—offer the first recorded accounts of lethargy; Thomas Cook, grandfather of the tourism industry, provided escape from the mundane for England’s working class; and contemporarily, we meet couples who are disenchanted by monogamous sex, deployed soldiers who seek entertainment and connection in porn, and prisoners held in solitary confinement, for whom boredom is a punishment for crimes they may or may not have committed.

With sharp wit and impressive historical acumen, Mann tells the unexpected story of the hunt for a deeper understanding of boredom, in all its absurd, irritating, and inspiring splendor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Essays, Humor

177 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 16, 2017

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apt title.

[Jacqueline Lafloufa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consumi esse livro via Audible e achei bem curioso. Para um livro longo, talvez me deixasse decepcionada, mas ficou com uma cara de reportagem da Piauí condensada em livro, e aí me pareceu legal. Passa pela narrativa da autora ao investigar o seu próprio tédio e vai mostrando como isso impacta as pessoas. Pode ser especialmente interessante para profissionais freelancers / autônomos como a autora - ela fala bastante sobre os desafios do dia a dia.

[Lorianne DiSabato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an uneven collection of semi-autobiographical essays loosely related to the topic of boredom, written by a woman who seems terrified to think she might ever be bored or boring. The result is a frustrating and disjointed book, with a lot of subtopics that are worthy of further exploration, like the intersection between boredom and spirituality (think acedia and the Desert Fathers), boredom and sex (think sex toys and sexual fantasies), and boredom and violence (think soldiers consuming porn during wartime and the psychology of thrill kills).  As soon as Mann touches upon an interesting way boredom says something deeper about our society and ourselves, however, she skitters off in another direction, as if fully exploring any one idea for a sustained period is (alas) too boring.  

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of people have complained that this books is disjointed and choppy in it's presentation. While, yes, it did jump from topic to topic a bit, I felt like that was the point because- whadaya know! The book is about boredom, and it was a short read. I really enjoyed it, and my interest in further researching the topic is peaked.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...even self-administering electric shocks is preferable to being unoccupied and alone with our thoughts, according to a 2014 study."

[Brucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

More adventurous than tiresome, this wide-ranging tour of a common subject has remarkable clarity, organization, and interesting stops on the way through the adventure. Recommended for everyone.

[Sukriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart, insightful, funny, and made me re-think so much of the boredom I took for granted.

[Eric Schleper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book from goodreads giveaway. It was an enjoyable read. The author covered a wide variety of subjects related to boredom at a surface level. While the topics jumped around frequently, she kept it interesting without getting bogged down in pieces the wider audience might get bored with.

[Maddy Byers · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is hilarioussssss, which I was ... not expecting, given the subject at hand. also omg it's so short. i mean that in a GREAT WAY. more books should be this short. yusss.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depending on the type of stuff that you find interesting, a book on boredom is either a hard sell or a no brainer. I found this to be pretty interesting, and enjoyed the author's mix of research and personal anecdotes (which kept it from feeling boring--har har). A cute and thought-provoking book I would recommend.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only kind of book I ever want to read: smart, funny nonfiction written by a gal. I read a ton of pop-psych books for my job and so many of them bum me out -- they feel formulaic, and sometimes a little lazy. But this one felt fresh, and, again, was often very funny, too. It ruled and I returned to it many times after reading it last year.

[Brentpafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction into boredom

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a lot of depth of coverage of research on boredom -- she mentions in passing the study that got a lot of media play a couple years ago by seeming to show that people would rather self-administer moderately painful electric shock than be alone with their thoughts and no phone to check for, IIRC, 15 minutes. There's more detail on her frustrated wish to attend a conference on boredom research than actual research review.

having said that, the narrative was generally not boring to me -- she mixes literary analysis, personal reminiscence, interviews with experts, etc. to provide a quick and lighthearted tour of various aspects of the topic -- people being bored with their sex lives, boredom at work, boredom in prison, relevance of boredom to laying the groundwork for creativity, etc.

Maybe my favorite part was her discussion of some our reactions to boredom, especially interpersonal ones. For such a universal experience to have from time to time, people certainly get bent out of shape by others' reports of boredom -- you're an ingrate who shouldn't be bored since you have all these advantages; only boring people get bored, etc.

[Karenclifford61 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book, fun style, not a lot of substance but I am glad for the quote, "...there is no problem so awful that you can't make it worse with guilt".


I don't like the uncomfortable feeling of boredom and now realize it's not an uncommon concern. It seems some people are hard wired to want more "novelty" than others (not me) and ironically those that seek thrills (again, not me) are the ones that are most easily bored. We avoid boredom and prefer being distracted because of a fear that our unoccupied mind forces us to be alone with our thoughts, which then wanders over to the uncomfortable issue of what we are doing to cope with our mortality.

The lesson I learned from this book is to ask myself...what bores me and what is it about the feeling that makes me feel so uncomfortable?

[Steve Baker · Rating 1 out of 5]

A terrible book! the author could not define boredom, so anything that didn't interest her was boring. she apparently works for the Cooper Union, so it seems she needed to publish or perish, so this mess got inot print. the topics are soooo cliche', there was no creativity in what she selected to write about.

tedious! if i could have given it a tenth of a star, i would have.

page 34 - "...wanting to emulate my relaxed friend but aware i'd be antsy and annoyed after two unoccupied minutes in a sunbeam..." this is not a description of boredom.

first, define boredom to better define your "book's" topic.

a waste of time! don't bother!

[Rozee Liu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting writing style. I can see myself enjoy reading a fiction in this style, but non-fiction filled with constant changing of topics and mixture of stories and roaming thoughts? Maybe not as interesting. Nonetheless, "Spicing it up" and "A. J. Liebling in a Nap Pod" are my two favourite chapters. Personally think that these two chapters are discussed more in depth and organized better than the rest. Overall I would recommend it as a long commute on the subway and bed time readings kinda book.

[Katie O. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely well-researched info on boredom in several distinct contexts (e.g. work, relationships, location, art) told via the personal lens of the author and experts she interviewed. Very engaging writing style. Compelling assertions about links between boredom and depression, creativity, & more. A quick read, but not silly; topics central to identity, motivation, guilt, and acceptance handled with a deft, light touch.

[Karol Gajda · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times I thought maybe this book was a trick. (Is it?!) Because Ms Mann expounded at length about day dreaming and boredom and the like and while reading Yawn I was very consistently not focused on the book at all, but thinking about other things. It's not that Yawn is boring, though, because I don't think it is. I think it's a matter of writing in 156 pages what really only needed 5 and needing to keep the remaining 151 pages interesting enough. And interesting enough it was.

[Cristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

What could have been an interesting exploration of boredom turned out to be snippets of historical and modern research frequently interjected with long and, sometimes, seemingly unrelated personal anecdotes. Just when aspects of findings would become engaging, Mann would change direction and lose my interest. Was she intentionally distracting the reader? Maybe it was an exercise in boredom.

[Kat Rother · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a thought provoking book and felt really relevant to me at this moment in my life. it was easy to read and i felt i could identify with the author. but i found myself wishing for more on almost every topic. as soon as it started really getting into something, the author would move on.

[Matthew Noe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could write some pithy remark about boredom while reading a book on boredom... but even that would be more praise than I want to give this. And it is a damn shame because boredom is one of those topics - along with laziness, silence, and doing-nothing - that are endlessly fascinating to me.

[Ekaterina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting or hoping for. I think the book I want on boredom does not exist - I was looking for explorations of what boredom is, some research, and intelligent discussion. This was... self-absorbed ramblings of a twenty something year old.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd describe this as "anecdotes on boredom in various contexts from the writer's life, other people, and the literature." Interesting enough, but I would prefer a book twice as long and much more systematic.

[JH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a little dull, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering the subject matter. I really enjoyed learning about how flow, creativity and human companionship are the anecdotes to boredom (for the most part). It really stuck with me how boredom and loneliness are so linked.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An obvious response, but I found it a little boring!

[Erin Tuzuner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superficial glance of the swirling abyss above, below, and contained within the soporific sphere of the human mind.

[Henrique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bom livro com varias explicações sobre o tedio e como ele é visto através da historia.

[Karishma]

TRUDGED through this book. Snippets were interesting but it is a bit tough to make a book about boredom not be a bit boring. Curious to see what info if any proves useful out of this :)

[Nick Leyden-Morffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and found the stories and references very relatable. The author has a great sense of humor and eloquent writing style. Would highly recommend this book to anyone!

[Nicole Lynch-Emery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There’s something quirky and off center about it, but that’s what I liked so much. An exploration into boredom with a rather nice takeaway. Not doomy or gloomy.