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Why Birds Do What They Do

By Jenny Odell · The Atlantic · May 2020

#19 All Time·#1 in 2020·#3 in Nature

Why Birds Do What They Do

10.01 ratings·1 reads logged

"The more humans understand about their behavior, the more inaccessible their world seems."

Read full essay at The Atlantic ↗

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Books by Jenny Odell

Enjoyed their writing? Take home one of their books.

★ 4.0 · 25 ratings on Open LibraryInformation Technology2019256 pages

Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity... doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance. So argues artist and critic Jenny Odell in this field guide to doing nothing (at least as capitalism defines it). Odell sees our attention as the most precious, and overdrawn, resource we have. Once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book is a four-course meal in the age of Soylent.

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