Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond Productivity Culture
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The visionary author of How to Do Nothing returns to challenge the notion that ‘time is money.’ . . . Expect to feel changed by this radical way of seeing.”—Esquire
“One of the most important books I’ve read in my life.”—Ed Yong, author of An Immense World
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Chicago Public Library, Electric Lit
In her first book, How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell wrote about the importance of disconnecting from the “attention economy” to spend time in quiet contemplation. But how can we reclaim our time?
In order to answer this seemingly simple question, Odell took a deep dive into the fundamental structure of our society and found that the clock we live by was built for profit, not people. This is why our lives, even in leisure, have come to seem like a series of moments to be bought, sold, and processed ever more efficiently. Odell shows us how our painful relationship to time is inextricably connected not only to persisting social inequities but to the climate crisis, existential dread, and a lethal fatalism.
This dazzling, subversive, and deeply hopeful book offers us different ways to experience time—inspired by pre-industrial cultures, ecological cues, and geological timescales—that can bring within reach a more humane, responsive way of living. As planet-bound animals, we live inside shortening and lengthening days alongside gardens growing, birds migrating, and cliffs eroding; the stretchy quality of waiting and desire; the way the present may suddenly feel marbled with childhood memory; the slow but sure procession of a pregnancy; the time it takes to heal from injuries. Odell urges us to become stewards of these different rhythms of life in which time is not reducible to standardized units and instead forms the very medium of possibility.
Saving Time tugs at the seams of reality as we know it—the way we experience time itself—and rearranges it, imagining a world not centered on work, the office clock, or the profit motive. If we can “save” time by imagining a life, identity, and source of meaning outside these things, time might also save us.
From the Publisher
ASIN : B0B3HY8HGW
Publisher : Random House (March 7, 2023)
Publication date : March 7, 2023
Language : English
File size : 57379 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 383 pages
Customers say
Customers find the book very readable and beautiful. Opinions are mixed on whether it’s thought-provoking. Some find it thought-provoking and timely, while others say it leaves them depressed and bored.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
12 reviews for Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond Productivity Culture
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Cement Pond –
perfect time for me to read this book?
I retired just last week, and feel like I read this book at a poignant intersection of chronos and kairos. It challenged me to look through the lens of how we measure time and often force ourselves and others to behave in accordance with certain measurements, with some awful results for large swaths of humanity and the environment, including some pending. Iâm impressed with Ms. Odellâs erudition and curiosity. I feel like this book is going to stay with me a while through its encouragement to look at the world more holistically.
Kelevilin Kimathi –
Saving time
Taylor’s work on scientific management continues to influence life more than 100 years later. The author shows how this Limited resource humans are given needs to be managed for us to enjoy our existence on this planet
Paul Trapani –
Chapter 4 was the point (Ithink).
Jenny Odell, the author of this book, is obviously very well read. The depth of her research and examination of time, and how we inerpret/experience it it in our daily lives is amazing. Although, the book can be very repetitive and redundant at times making the same point over and over.For me, chapter 4 contained the most important observations of the book. He observations of time in that chapter were the same as a Zen monk, without all of the typical spiritual terms and jargon you would read in a Zen text. Or, the same as the observations a sub-atomic particle physicist would express, without all of the technical scientific terms you would read in a book on particle physics.My dissapointment with this book is that she didn’t pursue the line of thought and observations she expressed in chapter 4 to a fuller extent. As mentioned, the preceeding and following chapters spent pages and pages making the same points repeatedly, and for me, caused me to skim over most of it. I hope in my skimming, I didn’t miss other important observations.
B –
Loved it
Jenny Odell is such a beautiful writer and gets me to think about life more deeply. Highly recommend!
Lesya H –
Amazing read
Life-changing perspective on time, and what’s important in our lives
Ellen –
Cathartic book for high achievers
Thought-provoking book on why we think of time as money and how we can reclaim our time. Essential reading for perfectionists and overachievers â or anyone who feels like their work is never enough.
J.S. –
Thought-provoking and timely
A fantastic meditation on time. Thanks for another great one, Jenny!
SUNDARI –
Heavy on social/political
Not what I had hoped for. Was not inspiring nor interesting. Left me bored and depressed. Wish I could have gotten a refund or had never purchased it.
Jessica P. –
It’s not hot tips. But make no mistake, there’s fresh content in here, and lots of it. Delve deep into an exploration of time, from many different perspectives.History, sociology, politics, philosophy and more – reading this book felt like having a long conversation with a friend, over the course of a few days.
savagegardener –
As a prolific and intelligent reader of books on all sorts of topics, I have to say that this one was pretty heavy going in places. When you start trying to speed read just to get through it without giving up on it, it’s always a bad sign. There were some chapters which were fairly interesting however, so it wasn’t a complete let down. However, just a day after finishing it, I would struggle to remember anything of interest to “take away” from it all. Another downside is the sheer amount of footnotes, and maybe it’s just me, but I can’t be bothered to leave the main text every few minutes and go and read some extra bit of information about a particular point. It is worth noting that 57% of the book is the main text, and the rest is composed of the footnotes! I really couldn’t recommend this one, except perhaps as a dirty trick on an enemy. I won’t be purchasing any more from this author.
Dave –
I really tried to get through this book but just went on an on with past references that started to drive me nuts. I heard a review on the CBC one day and ordered this book thinking that I could always use some information on saving time. The wordsmithing is insane… and just slows down the flow of communication.So, I will have to say that I didn’t get much out of this frustrating read. The book should have been titled Waste of Time.Dave
Amazon Customer –
This is rather like the folktale of the Emperor’s new clothes, nobody wants to admit how turgid this book really is. To make themselves look good they recommend it and hey presto it ends up on a Best Seller list! Don’t waste your precious time reading this book.