The Importance of Being Idle: A Little Book of Lazy Inspiration is a humorous self-help book by author Stephen Robins. It was published by Prion Books in August 2000 [1] and re-released as a paperback in 2001. [2] Using an alphabetic subject-list format, it presents a collection of essay-extracts, quotations and journal excerpts from a wide variety of writers and thinkers, including Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell, [3] Charles Dickens, and Samuel Johnson. The book describes itself as 'call to arms for would-be loafers everywhere to turn their hands to absolutely nothing whatever', emphasizing the benefits of giving oneself nothing to do in the modern world of stress and long working hours. In the words of James Thurber, "It is better to have loafed and lost than never to have loafed at all".
The song of the same name by English rock band Oasis is named after the book.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell was a British polymath. As an academic, he worked in philosophy, mathematics, and logic. His work has had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, and various areas of analytic philosophy, especially philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He was a public intellectual, historian, social critic, political activist, and Nobel laureate. He was born in Monmouthshire into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the United Kingdom.
Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889).
Lammas Day, also known as Loaf Mass Day, is a Christian holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere on 1 August. The name originates from the word "loaf" in reference to bread and "Mass" in reference to the primary Christian liturgy celebrating Holy Communion. It is a festival in the liturgical calendar to mark the blessing of the First Fruits of harvest, with a loaf of bread being brought to the church for this purpose.
A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic.
Laziness is disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the ability to act or to exert oneself. It is often used as a pejorative; terms for a person seen to be lazy include "couch potato", "slacker", and "bludger". Related concepts include sloth, a Christian sin, and lethargy, a state of lacking energy.
Idleness is a lack of motion or energy. In describing a person or machine, idle means the act of nothing or no work. This is a person who spends his days doing nothing could be said to be "idly passing his days." A computer processor or communication circuit is described as idle when it is not being used by any program, application or message. Similarly, an engine of an automobile may be described as idle when it is running only to sustain its running, this is also called the tickover.
The Idler is a bi-monthly magazine, devoted to its ethos of 'idling'. Founded in 1993 by Tom Hodgkinson and Gavin Pretor-Pinney, the publication's intention is to return dignity to the art of loafing, to make idling into something to aspire towards rather than reject.
"The Importance of Being Idle" is a song by the English rock band Oasis. It was released on 22 August 2005 in the UK as the second single from their sixth studio album Don't Believe the Truth (2005), written, produced and sung by lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. The song was written by Gallagher in the summer of 2004, before the band made their final attempt at recording what would become Don't Believe the Truth.
Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Big Horn is a nonfiction account of the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, by novelist Evan S. Connell, published in 1984 by North Point Press. The book features extensive portraits of the battle's participants, including General George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, Major Marcus Reno, Captain Frederick Benteen, Crazy Horse, and others.
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, published in 1886, is a collection of humorous essays by Jerome K. Jerome. It was the author’s second published book and it helped establish him as a leading English humorist. While widely considered one of Jerome’s better works, and in spite of using the same style as Three Men in a Boat, it was never as popular as the latter. A second "Idle Thoughts" book, The Second Thoughts of An Idle Fellow, was published in 1898.
Ronald Turner was a British illustrator and comic book artist.
The Principles of Mathematics (PoM) is a 1903 book by Bertrand Russell, in which the author presented his famous paradox and argued his thesis that mathematics and logic are identical.
The aspects of Bertrand Russell's views on philosophy cover the changing viewpoints of philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), from his early writings in 1896 until his death in February 1970.
Aspects of philosopher, mathematician and social activist Bertrand Russell's views on society changed over nearly 80 years of prolific writing, beginning with his early work in 1896, until his death in February 1970.
Prion Humour Classics are a series of small-format hardback novels published by Prion Books in the UK published by Barry Winkleman.
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth is a graphic novel about the foundational quest in mathematics, written by Apostolos Doxiadis, author of Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture, and at the time Berkeley's theoretical computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou. Character design and artwork are by Alecos Papadatos and color is by Annie Di Donna. The book was originally written in English, and was translated into Greek by author Apostolos Doxiadis for the release in Greece, which preceded the UK and U.S. releases.
Monster High is an American fashion doll franchise created by Mattel and launched in July 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, and various other creatures. Monster High was created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley and illustrator Glen Hanson. The franchise includes many consumer products such as stationery dolls, bags, key chains, various toys, and play sets. A book series has also been created.
In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays is a 1935 collection of essays by the philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Appearance and Reality is a book by the English philosopher Francis Herbert Bradley, in which the author, influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, argues that most things are appearances and attempts to describe the reality these appearances misrepresent, which Bradley calls the Absolute. It is the main statement of Bradley's metaphysics and is considered his most important book. The work was an early influence on Bertrand Russell, who, however, later rejected Bradley's views.
Frances ("Fanny") Anna Maria Russell, Countess Russell, was the second wife of two-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom John Russell, 1st Earl Russell. Between 1841 and 1861 she was known as Lady John Russell.