Hello Laziness

I think I first read about this book in The Idler, a couple of issues back. Let’s face it Hello Laziness is a great title and demands to be investigated further. Ever since reading Tom Hodgkinson’s How to be Idle, starting to buy The Idler when it comes out, connecting all of this with my feelings about the world, the various slow movements, permaculture etc. I’ve had an eye for books which might further stimulate this obsession – and there seem to be an increasing number of them out there.

Interestingly on the title front, this book was of course originally Bonjour Paresse (it’s a French book innit) – and the paperback edition in England seems to be going to wear the title Bonjour Laziness. Perhaps this is to reinforce its Frenchness in the potential buyer, as some reviewers have disparaged the French focus to much of the book. I personally didn’t find the France references too annoying (apart from my ill informed jealousy towards the French social model and its benefits!).

I guess I didn’t find out anything new from the book, it just reinforced my own prejudices and beliefs. But hey - having one’s own prejudices and beliefs reinforced is enjoyable and life affirming, especially when its part of the personal mental struggle against the evils of the consensus trance.