First published in 1899 by American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen, "The Theory of the Leisure Class" is a classic and important examination of the economics of the upper classes and the impact that their habits have upon society at the end of the 19th century. In this work, Veblen, influenced by the work of Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Adam Smith, contends that the evolutionary development of human society is the basis for our modern...

"The Art of the Wasted Day is a picaresque travelogue of leisure written from a lifelong enchantment with solitude. Patricia Hampl visits the homes of historic exemplars of ease who made repose a goal, even an art form. She begins with two celebrated eighteenth-century Irish ladies who ran off to live a life of "retirement" in rural Wales. Her search then leads to Moravia to consider the monk-geneticist, Gregor Mendel, and finally to Bordeaux for...

"We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable? Despite our constant search for new ways to "hack" our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. This manifesto helps us break free of our unhealthy devotion to efficiency and shows us how to reclaim our time and humanity with a little more leisure"--

Can working parents in America, or anywhere, ever find true leisure time? According to the Leisure Studies Department at the University of Iowa, true leisure is "that place in which we realize our humanity." If that's true, argues the author, then we're doing dangerously little realizing of our humanity. In this book the author, a staff writer for The Washington Post, asks: Are our brains, our partners, our culture, and our bosses making it impossible...

"An unexpected tropical layover with her nemesis turns a flight attendant's life upside down in this witty, breezy debut romantic comedy about life--and love--30,000 feet above the ground"--