The Secret World of Doing Nothing [Hardcover]

In this insightful and pathbreaking reflection on doing nothing, Billy Ehn and Orvar L?fgren 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 liveswaiting for a bus, daydreaming by the window, performing a routine taskand illuminate these empty times as full of significance. Creative, insightful, and profound,The Secret World of Doing Nothingleads us to rethink the ordinary and find meaning in todays hypermodern reality.

Billy Ehnis a Professor in the Department of Culture and Media Studies at Umea University andOrvar L?fgrenis Professor of Ethnology at the University of Lund, both in Sweden. L?fgren is the author ofOn Holiday: A History of Vacationing(UC Press).

This is one of those rare books that causes you to rethink all your previous understandings of both time and space, to pay attention to what you have hitherto ignored or belittled. Full of fascinating detail, Ehn and Lofgren's work opens up a whole new field of inquiry. John Gillis, author ofIslands of the Mind: How the Human Imagination Created the Atlantic World

This is a beautifully written and elegant book, deeply thoughtful but accessible to anyone.The Secret World of Doing Nothingis an essential field guide for understanding daily life; a delightful way to find out what is going on in the heads of people waiting, standing in lines, daydreaming and seemingly doing nothing. Ehn and Lofgren open a door into a hitherto hidden world in the mundane details of daily life; they uncover a trove of valuable insight into contemporary society, emotions, and morality. Who would think that looking at nothing could be so enlightening? Richard R. Wilk, Indiana University

Focusing on three seemingly mul,