Articles
Thought for the Week: On the Afterlife
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Charles Handy on how our lives touch others, even when we’re gone
Honey Trap
Bill Anderson | Idler Magazine
Bill Anderson debunks the myth that bees always die after they sting
Lucy Cooke on the Amazing Sloth
Lucy Cooke | From the archives
The BBC zoologist defends the much maligned and slowest of animals
Mother of Invention
Arthur Smith | Idler Magazine
Arthur Smith shares some of his mum’s finest unintentional one-liners
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: On Food
Jerome K Jerome | Books
Jerome K Jerome on the pleasure of looking forward to a feast
Thought for the Week: What Luck Is
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Charles Handy on the importance of preparation
Live the Good Life: The Umbrian Harvest Retreat
Victoria Hull | Retreat
A retreat to rural Italy with food, wine, art, talks and lots of loafing
Interview with Terence McKenna from 1993
Terence McKenna | Conversations
An account of a conversation with the magic mushroom guru
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
Emma Park | From the archives
Emma Park on this masterful Victorian reworking of Persian poetry
A Natural Selection
Alex Johnson | Idler Magazine
Alex Johnson on Charles Darwin’s life-saving move to the countryside
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: The Weather
Jerome K Jerome | Books
Jerome K Jerome on why it’s always wrong
Thought for the Week: Celebrate Imperfection
Charles Handy | Thought for the Week
Charles Handy on how getting broken can make you stronger
Gardening: Time to Dye
Graham Burnett | Gardening
Graham Burnett shows how to make ink and pigments from fruit & veg
New Idler Out Now
Tom Hodgkinson | Idler Magazine
Books, music, art, philosophy, essays, tech, pilgrimage, food and more…
Excavating the Subconscious
Alexander McCall Smith | Idler Magazine
“No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” author Alexander McCall Smith tells us how he writes
Cartoon by Modern Toss
Modern Toss | Cartoon
Plus: Release your inner cartoonist with the Idler Academy
Fun and Games
C. Thi Nguyen | Idler Magazine
C Thi Nguyen talks to Tom Hodgkinson about the psychology of play
Book of the Week: Walden
Henry David Thoreau | Books
Hercules’ labours were trifling compared with a life of toil, says Thoreau