The Importance of Being Lazy In Praise of Play, Leisure, and Vacation [Paperback]

Drawing upon in-depth case studies of vacation habits and the observations of philosophers, writers, and sociologists such as Aristotle, Mark Twain and Thorstein Veblen, Al Gini argues why vacations are so venerated and why 'doing nothing' is a fundamental human necessity.

From shopping sprees and extreme sports to the ultimate vacation - retirement - The Importance of Being lazy demonstrates that without true leisure, we are diminished as individuals and as a society.

 

Prologue: The Project and the Problem  1. The Other Side of Leisure Work, Damn it!  2. Leisure and Culture  3. Vacations and Traveling  4. Mini Vacations The Weekend  5. Shopping as Leisure and Play  6. Sports and Play  7. The Ultimate Vacation Retirement
Epilogue: Sabbath as Metaphor

'The Importance of Being Lazysolidifies Al Gini's reputation as a leading philosopher of contemporary American culture.'  - Ronald M. Green, Ethics Institute, Dartmouth College, USA

'Finally - a book written around the thesis that doing nothing is one of life's necessities!' - Publishers Weekly

'Gini is so persuasive I kept putting the book down to go play!'- Chicago Tribune

Al Gini is a Philosophy Professor at Loyola University Chicago and a member of Loyola's Institute of Human Resources and Industrial Relations. He is the co-founder and Associate Editor of the journal Business EthicsQuarterlyand the author of Why IT's Hard to BeGood(Routledge).