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The Secret World of Doing Nothing
In this insightful and pathbreaking reflection on “doing nothing,” Billy Ehn and Orvar Löfgren 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.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 5, 2023
“if you are stuck in a class system with little room for career advancement, wishing for sudden riches is a comment on the fact that society is organized not by fairness or equality but merely like a tombola.” ☹️ lempi koulukirja jonka oon lukenu
March 1, 2015
I had many moments of surprised recognition in this book--perhaps you would too. "Other people do that too?" moments. The three sections of the book--waiting, routines & daydreaming--talk about what we do & why we do it. My favorite section was the one on waiting--their summary (From David Maister's work) of what makes waits feel longer or shorter I thought was a brilliant encapsulation. I always say, tell me it will be an hour and I will wait relatively patiently; tell me it will be 20 minutes and then make me wait an hour, and I'll be really angry. It's not the hour. Their summary:
1) People want to get going--waiting for a menu feels like longer than waiting for the food
2) Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits
3) Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits
4) Unfair waits are longer than reasonable waits--as when someone answers the phone while you wait in the office for your own turn (they cut!)
5) The more valuable the service, the more patience the customer will show
6) Solo waits feel longer than group waits
Their conclusion at the end of the book is that what seem like very private moments are actually based on shared understandings.
Anyway, it was worth it just to see that other people do what I do when they are just sitting around....
1) People want to get going--waiting for a menu feels like longer than waiting for the food
2) Uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits
3) Unexplained waits are longer than explained waits
4) Unfair waits are longer than reasonable waits--as when someone answers the phone while you wait in the office for your own turn (they cut!)
5) The more valuable the service, the more patience the customer will show
6) Solo waits feel longer than group waits
Their conclusion at the end of the book is that what seem like very private moments are actually based on shared understandings.
Anyway, it was worth it just to see that other people do what I do when they are just sitting around....
September 22, 2024
3.5 stars I would not have known this to be written by anthropologists but it provides a great trove of hard to find citations on a difficult topic – liminal spaces. A book I would have appreciated for my dissertation if I had known my analysis turned to understanding the blank spaces of life. if they took several years to track this done, I definitely could not have done it in the last month of my thesis.
The book covers three important topics on waiting, routines and daydreaming. They are fearless for covering topics that included the inner world of people which are not usually the remit of anthropologists or would be brave enough to undertake. The chapters consist of selected stories from interviews, autobiographical experiences, surveys, and reviews of the literature. There are a lot of nuggets there such as why time is long and short and why certain objects and contexts make us daydream or not. It's an enjoyable and accessible book made for easy reading. The language is ordinary which makes the reader quickly reflect on their own experience. I appreciate the footnotes and most of all their research design appendix at the end. Rarely do we see how studies such as this were done and I like the transparency.
In the end, it seems like there's no such thing as doing nothing. Even when looking at the sunset or waiting for dusk as the Swedes have done or forgotten to do. It's my favourite bit of info we have of the lost of quiet spaces in our days.
The book covers three important topics on waiting, routines and daydreaming. They are fearless for covering topics that included the inner world of people which are not usually the remit of anthropologists or would be brave enough to undertake. The chapters consist of selected stories from interviews, autobiographical experiences, surveys, and reviews of the literature. There are a lot of nuggets there such as why time is long and short and why certain objects and contexts make us daydream or not. It's an enjoyable and accessible book made for easy reading. The language is ordinary which makes the reader quickly reflect on their own experience. I appreciate the footnotes and most of all their research design appendix at the end. Rarely do we see how studies such as this were done and I like the transparency.
In the end, it seems like there's no such thing as doing nothing. Even when looking at the sunset or waiting for dusk as the Swedes have done or forgotten to do. It's my favourite bit of info we have of the lost of quiet spaces in our days.
April 29, 2023
Luin yhtä kurssii varten. Oli aika avaavaa ja laitto miettii. Kivoja esimerkkejä!
October 14, 2023
Kurssikirja, mut oli tosi kiva!
August 3, 2020
The subject matters chosen are very intriguing. Our subtleties, the trivial habits that actually have all been trapped by layers and layers of cultural meaning, gendered touch.
Brings to light the need for us all to microanalyse our smallest decisions/unconscious actions, understand how they are unconsciously influenced, decide to break them down and then reconfigure them with our own meanings.
Brings to light the need for us all to microanalyse our smallest decisions/unconscious actions, understand how they are unconsciously influenced, decide to break them down and then reconfigure them with our own meanings.
July 24, 2011
A really fascinating exploration of waiting, routines, and day-dreaming, all categories of seeming non-activity. Because it's hard to conduct ethnographic research of seeming non-events, many of the examples are drawn from fiction, poetry, and film, though in most cases also backed up by qualitative studies. Especially interesting to me was the discussion of differences in waiting between western and non-western cultures, and also the discussion of putting on makeup as routine cultural practice. This does of course touch on how technology and media have changed these activities, but it is actually not about technology, as I'd assumed when I read the jacket copy. They do suggest that as technologies become more routine we are better at multitasking, but I don't buy that. I think it's more that familiarity breeds contempt. This is definitely an academic book, but I enjoyed reading it over lunch every day while "doing nothing."
February 13, 2012
I just loved this book! Loved it.
Don't let the title fool you, this book is not filled with 'nothing'. It's packed with interesting insights into life.
The book opens up in a grocery story. A man is at the checkout counter and what ensues is typical of the average human: to avoid the mundane-ness of waiting, he creates a competition between checkout lines. Who will get done first? After an opening like that, I was hooked.
It takes to understanding why we create little competitions for ourselves on a day to day basis. The kind of "imaginative ingenuity" that "ritualizes and dramatizes daily life".
It discusses six aspects or principles behind waiting. (I won't spoil the book by listing them here.) And how the feelings towards waiting varies depending on where you live in the world.
Another section of the book--and really the reason I picked it up--is the section on daydreaming. When do most people daydream? Why do people daydream? Fascinating study.
I recommend this book.
Don't let the title fool you, this book is not filled with 'nothing'. It's packed with interesting insights into life.
The book opens up in a grocery story. A man is at the checkout counter and what ensues is typical of the average human: to avoid the mundane-ness of waiting, he creates a competition between checkout lines. Who will get done first? After an opening like that, I was hooked.
It takes to understanding why we create little competitions for ourselves on a day to day basis. The kind of "imaginative ingenuity" that "ritualizes and dramatizes daily life".
It discusses six aspects or principles behind waiting. (I won't spoil the book by listing them here.) And how the feelings towards waiting varies depending on where you live in the world.
Another section of the book--and really the reason I picked it up--is the section on daydreaming. When do most people daydream? Why do people daydream? Fascinating study.
I recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews