About
The Idler is a bi-annual, book-shaped magazine that campaigns against the work ethic.
It was founded in 1993 by Tom Hodgkinson and his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney.
The title comes from a series of essays by Dr Johnson, published in 1758-9 in the Gentleman’s Magazine.
The intention of the magazine is to return dignity to the art of loafing, to make idling into something to aspire towards rather than reject.
As well as providing a radical and thought-provoking read, the Idler is also very funny.
Editor Tom Hodgkinson has written two books which develop this attitude to life. The first, How To Be Idle, has been published in 20 countries and has so far become a best-seller in the UK, Italy and Germany.
His new book How To Be Free takes an anarchic approach to the everyday barriers that come between us and our dreams.
The current edition of the Idler is titled “How To Save The World Without Really Trying” and argues that idleness is eco-friendly and that to save the planet we need to to do a lot less. It is man’s interference that has caused the problems; therefore we need to leave nature alone.
The Idler website offer a lively forum where our witty and well-informed readers discuss how they are going about creating a less work-based and less slavish life for themselves.
"I do nothing and then I do something. But it's taken years of investigating idleness in all its forms to be able to achieve this. My discipline is borne out of concerted study of idleness."