Bird's Bookshelf

What I'm reading

After reading Bullshit Jobs earlier this year, I have been on the lookout for other interesting anti-work titles, and I’ve recently finished The Refusal of Work, which contains accessible overviews of theory as well as some interesting case studies of individuals who have chosen to resist work.

This book introduced me to the idea, which I was particularly struck by, that work consists not soley of the hours spent at your job, but also all the labour and hours spent making oneself ‘work-ready’ as well as the way in which consumption and leisure perpetuate the need for work. I’m excited that the pervasive nature of work is no longer going unchallenged (e.g. r/antiwork) and even more excited to explore the possibility of how a work-free or work-lite future could be achieved!

I think there is something interesting in the idea of consciously choosing the boundaries of economic/consumerist behaviour in one’s own individual life - I’m planning to write about this in a future post.