100 Subscribers

100 people have subscribed to a publication about uselessness. We find that wonderfully contradictory.

Useful Uselessness began as an experiment: could a publication dedicated to questioning utility itself find an audience in a world obsessed with optimization? These 100 subscriptions say yes. Or at least maybe.

What matters isn't the metric but the ideas themselves—reflections on distraction as insight, stillness as movement, and why our best thoughts often emerge when we stop demanding productivity from every moment. Though feedback has been shy and interactions few, 100 people found these thoughts worth following.

A special thanks to our first paying subscribers. The fact that anyone would pay for a publication about uselessness contains its own delightful irony—a validation we didn't know we needed until we got it.

Here's to whatever comes next. Probably more contradiction.

100 essential references for useful uselessness

To celebrate, for our current and future subscribers, here are 100 references curated having "useful uselessness" in mind. Just books, for now, leaving out, a myriad of interesting articles, essays, pieces, podcasts, documentaries. Who knows if the long for idle moments will bring me the will and patience to delve in the useless activity of compiling those.

the philosophy of uselessness & leisure

1. Homer (8th century BCE). The Odyssey [The Sirens Episode]. - The ancient cautionary tale about attention and distraction that established one of Western literature's first explorations of pleasure versus utility.
2. Stevenson, R. L. (1877/1881). An Apology for Idlers. Penguin Classics. - Originally published in Cornhill Magazine before collection in "Virginibus Puerisque." Stevenson's eloquent defense of idleness directly challenges the Protestant work ethic, arguing that seemingly "wasted" time often produces the most valuable experiences.
3. Lafargue, P. (1883). The Right to Be Lazy. AK Press. - Originally published in French as "Le Droit à la paresse." This radical critique of the work ethic by Marx's son-in-law argues for leisure as a right rather than privilege, providing historical foundation for contemporary post-work theory.
4. Jerome, J. K. (1886). Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. - This collection of humorous essays celebrates the pleasures of contemplation and the virtues of seemingly unproductive activities, showing that lighthearted approaches can illuminate serious philosophical territory.
5. Russell, B. (1935). In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays. Routledge. - Russell's landmark case for working less anticipated many contemporary arguments about work-life balance, providing philosophical justification for leisure as essential rather than supplementary to human flourishing.
6. Pieper, J. (1948). Leisure: The Basis of Culture. St. Augustine's Press. - Originally published in German as "Muße und Kult." Pieper's influential defense of contemplation argues that culture emerges not from productive work but from spaces of celebration and receptivity—ideas echoed in "For a New Definition of 'Work'".
7. Arendt, H. (1958). The Human Condition. University of Chicago Press. - Arendt's distinction between labor, work, and action provides essential vocabulary for understanding different modes of human activity, challenging narrow conceptions of productivity and creating space for meaningful action.
8. Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago Press. - While not explicitly about uselessness, Kuhn's analysis of paradigm shifts shows how seemingly "useless" anomalies and outlier observations eventually transform entire fields of knowledge.
9. Corbin, A. (1995). The Lure of the Sea. Penguin. - Originally published in French as "Le Territoire du vide." Corbin's cultural history examines how perceptions of leisure transformed the coastline from terrifying void to therapeutic space, showing how "useless" natural features become meaningful through cultural framing.
10. Ordine, N. (2013). The Usefulness of the Useless. University of Pennsylvania Press. - Originally published in Italian as "L'utilità dell'inutile: Manifesto." Ordine's elegant argument for knowledge with no immediate practical purpose directly inspired the name and concept of this publication.
11. Hampl, P. (2018). The Art of the Wasted Day. Viking. - Hampl's celebration of daydreaming and contemplation examines the lives of various thinkers who prioritized reflective time, echoing themes in "Do This One Thing: Nothing".
12. Muradov, R. (2018). On Doing Nothing: Finding Inspiration in Idleness. Chronicle Books. - This artistic exploration of creative idleness pairs conceptual analysis with visual interpretation, demonstrating how uselessness manifests across different media and sensory experiences.
13. Odell, J. (2019). How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Melville House. - Odell's manifesto for reclaiming attention from productivity demands has become a touchstone for contemporary critiques of digital capitalism, resonating with ideas in "On the Beauty of Distraction".
14. Cleese, J. (2020). Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide. - In this concise guide, Cleese explores how idle moments and what he calls "intermediate impossibles" fuel creative thinking, supporting the value of apparent uselessness.

work, productivity & their discontents