Tom Hodgkinson

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Dr Johnson wrote that "every man is, or hopes to be, an idler". Being idle brings untold benefits both to individuals and to the planet. Tom Hodgkinson brings you 24 easy ways to do nothing, from keeping a diary to sitting on a bench. These idling tricks can be done here and now, by nearly anyone, and for little or no cost.

'One of those enthusiasts whose enthusiasm is hard to resist . . . Always beguiling' Daily Mail'Hugely inspiring even when it is most bonkers' Sarah Bakewell, New Statesman'A combination of almanac, commonplace book and diary, this is a tasty oddity . . . Richly entertaining' IndependentAs the pandemic has caused us all to re-evaluate our lives, becoming more self-reliant and dwelling in closer harmony with nature have emerged as important priorities. Many of us have decided to up sticks and leave the city behind for a less frenetic existence in the country. Whether you've already made your move, or are dreaming of doing so one day, this is the book for you. Covering beekeeping, poultry rearing, pig farming, bread-making, wood-chopping, fire-laying, bartering and much more, How to Live in the Country is the perfect source of inspiration for old hand and beginners alike: useful, informative but also refreshingly honest and realistic. Tom Hodgkinson draws on the wisdom of an eclectic range of thinkers and writers as he guides us through each month of the year, giving lists of tasks for both garden and animal husbandry, offering tips and shortcuts, and weaving in stories about his own experience of raising a young family in rural Devon.

Fear not: help is at hand. In Business for Bohemians, Tom Hodgkinson combines practical advice with laugh-out-loud anecdote to create a refreshingly candid guidebook for all of us who aspire to a greater degree of freedom in our working lives.Whether you dream of launching your own startup or profiting from your creativity in your spare time, Business for Bohemians will equip you with the tools to turn your talents into a profitable and enjoyable business. Accounting need no longer be a dark art. You will become au fait with business plans and a friend of the spreadsheet. You will discover that laziness can be a virtue. Above all, you will realise that freedom from the nine-to-five life is achievable - and, with Hodgkinson's comforting, pragmatic and extremely funny advice at hand, you might even enjoy yourself along the way.Tom Hodgkinson is the founder and editor of The Idler and the bestselling author of How to be Idle, How to be Free, The Idle Parent and Brave Old World. In 2011 he and his partner Victoria launched the Idler Academy of Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment, a business which offers online and real-world courses in the liberal arts and practical skills, from philosophy and ukulele to business skills and singing.

The ukulele has gone from strength to strength in recent years, undergoing a massive resurgence. You can hear the uke all over the place, from trendster indie rock to top ten pop songs, from unshakeable TV ads to YouTube megahits. And this obsession shows no sign of abating - all over the country people are picking up a ukulele and starting to strum, at home, in classes and down at the pub. Schools are even replacing the faithful recorder with a jazzy, inexpensive uke. Famous idlers Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tom Hodgkinson have spent hours idling away on their ukuleles to produce the ultimate uke handbook: an illustrated guide to its history crossed with a how-to guide and songbook. This is the book that will bring the underground movement into the mainstream. The first half of the book delves into the rich history of this eccentric little instrument, from its birth in Hawaii to its popularity across the world, with a timeline from 1879 to today and a ukulele hall of fame that includes George Formby, Hawaiian legend Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and YouTube ukulele superstar Jake Shimabukuro. Then on to the practicalities: the anatomy of the ukulele, which uke to buy, how to play it, how to strum, pick, read chord charts and tune the strings. Once you know all this, you can get playing the songbook, which includes a wide spread of songs from medieval lays and nursery rhymes to blues and rock 'n roll. Beautiful presentation and tab notation make reading the music easy, even for beginners. With the highest production values, a light touch and an irresistible instrument at centre stage, this book is a must-have for all aspiring Formbys.

Trapped in a London laboratory during a worker uprising in 1924, ex-artillery officer and physics instructor Jeremy Tuft awakens 150 years later -- in a neo-medieval society whose inhabitants have forgotten how to build or operate machinery. Not only have his fellow Londoners forgotten most of what humankind used to know, before civilization collapsed, but they don't particularly care to re-learn any of it. Though he is at first disconcerted by the failure of his own era's smug doctrine of Progress, Tuft eventually decides that post-civilized life is simpler, more peaceful. That is, until northern English and Welsh tribes threaten London -- at which point he sets about reinventing weapons of mass destruction. Shanks's post-apocalyptic novel, a pessimistic satire on Wellsian techno-utopian novels, was first published in 1920.

This wise and funny book presents a revolutionary yet highly practical approach to childcare: leave them alone. "The Idle Parent came as a huge relief to the whole family. Suddenly, it was okay to leave the kids to sort it out among themselves. Suddenly, it was okay to be responsibly lazy. This is the most counterintuitive but most helpful and consoling child-raising manual I've yet read."--Alain de Botton, author of The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and The Consolations of Philosophy "The most easy-to-follow-without-being-made-to-feel-inadequate parenting manifesto ever written . . . A godsend to parents."--The Sunday Times "Add liberal doses of music, jovial company and deep woods to play in--all central to the idle, not to say Taoist, life--and you have a recipe for bright, happy people with need of neither television nor shrink. Who could ask for more?"--The Evening Standard In The Idle Parent, the author of The Freedom Manifesto and How to Be Idle applies his trademark left-of-center theories of idleness to what can be one of the thorniest aspects of adult life: parenting. Many parents today spend a whole lot of time worrying and wondering--frantically "helicoptering" over their children with the hope that they might somehow keep (or make?) them flawless. But where is this approach to childcare getting us? According to Hodgkinson, in our quest to give our kids everything, we fail to give them the two things they need most: the space and time to grow up self-reliant, confident, happy, and free. In this smart and hilarious book, Hodgkinson urges parents to stop worrying and instead start nurturing the natural instincts toward creativity and independence that are found in every child. And the great irony: in doing so, we will find ourselves becoming happier and better parents.

The Idle Parent is Tom Hodgkinson's radical parenting remedy against stifled, mollycoddled children.Modern life is wrecking childhood. Why can't we just leave our kids alone?If you've ever wondered why so many of today's children are unhappy, spoilt, stressed and selfish, then the answers and the remedy are to be found in The Idle Parent. Tom Hodgkinson wants us to leave our kids be, to give them the space and time to grow into self-reliant, confident, inquisitive, happy and free people. Full of practical tips of what to do and (more importantly) what not to do, Tom will not only help your kids be happier, but also help you, their parents, live happier and more fulfilled lives. 'Wise, practical, funny, personal, it will make you a much better parent' Oliver James'An inspiring book, genuinely subversive. Time to put away "silly adult things" and embrace childhood in all its messy glory' London Lite'A recipe for bright, happy people with need of neither television nor shrink. Who could ask for more?' Evening Standard'An original, thought-provoking book' Toby Young, Mail on SundayTom Hodgkinson is the founder and editor of The Idler and the author of How to be Idle, How to be Free, The Idle Parent and Brave Old World. In spring 2011 he founded The Idler Academy in London, a bookshop, coffeehouse and cultural centre which hosts literary events and offers courses in academic and practical subjects - from Latin to embroidery. Its motto is 'Liberty through Education'. Find out more at www.idler.co.uk.

A zany sequel to How to Be Idle draws on the Beat poets, French existentialism, British punks, anarchists, and other diverse sources to share wise and subversive advice on how to abandon convention to live a free, unencumbered life. Original. 30,000 first printing.

How to be Free is Tom Hodgkinson's manifesto for a liberated life.Modern life is absurd. How can we be free?If you've ever wondered why you bother to go to work, or why so much consumer culture is crap, then this book is for you. Looking to history, literature and philosophy for inspiration, Tom Hodgkinson provides a joyful blueprint for a simpler and freer way of life. Filled with practical tips as well as inspiring reflections, here you can learn how to throw off the shackles of anxiety, bureaucracy, debt, governments, housework, supermarkets, waste and much else besides.Are you ready to be free? Read this book and find out.'One of the most provocatively entertaining, creatively subversive and, frankly, essential manifestoes of this or any moment' Time Out'Crammed with laugh-out-loud jokes and witty put-downs . . . acts as a survival guide for everything from the government to housework. Random in its details, essential in its advice' KnaveAs a follow-up to his charming How to be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson offers nothing less than a manifesto of resistance to the modern world' GuardianTom Hodgkinson is the founder and editor of The Idler and the author of How to be Idle, How to be Free, The Idle Parent and Brave Old World. In spring 2011 he founded The Idler Academy in London, a bookshop, coffeehouse and cultural centre which hosts literary events and offers courses in academic and practical subjects - from Latin to embroidery. Its motto is 'Liberty through Education'. Find out more at www.idler.co.uk.

Yearning for a life of leisure? In 24 chapters representing each hour of a typical working day, this book will coax out the loafer in even the most diligent and schedule-obsessed worker. From the founding editor of the celebrated magazine about the freedom and fine art of doing nothing, The Idler, comes not simply a book, but an antidote to our work-obsessed culture. In How to Be Idle, Hodgkinson presents his learned yet whimsical argument for a new, universal standard of living: being happy doing nothing. He covers a whole spectrum of issues affecting the modern idler--sleep, work, pleasure, relationships--bemoaning the cultural skepticism of idleness while reflecting on the writing of such famous apologists for it as Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Johnson, and Nietzsche--all of whom have admitted to doing their very best work in bed. It's a well-known fact that Europeans spend fewer hours at work a week than Americans. So it's only befitting that one of them--the very clever, extremely engaging, and quite hilarious Tom Hodgkinson--should have the wittiest and most useful insights into the fun and nature of being idle. Following on the quirky, call-to-arms heels of the bestselling Eat, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, How to Be Idle rallies us to an equally just and no less worthy cause: reclaiming our right to be idle.

How to be Idle is Tom Hodgkinson's brilliant guide to reclaiming your right to be idle'Well written, funny and with a scholarly knowledge of the literature of laziness, it is both a book to be enjoyed at leisure and to change lives' Sunday TimesAs Oscar Wilde said, doing nothing is hard work. A burn-out work ethic has most of us in its thrall, and the idlers of this world have the odds stacked against them. But here, at last, is a book that can help. Hodgkinson presents us with a laid-back argument for a new contract between routine and chaos, an argument for experiencing life to the full and living in the moment. Ranging across a host of issues that affect the modern idler:-Sleep-Work-Pleasure and hedonism -Relationships-Bohemian living-Revolution Drawing on the writings of such well-known apologists for idleness as Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson and Nietzsche, his message is clear: take control of your life and reclaim your right to be idle.