How to Be Less Useful
The Joy of Inefficiency
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How to Be Less Useful
Narrated by:
Priyanka Mattoo
Pre-order Now for €16.99
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Narrated by:
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Priyanka Mattoo
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By:
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Priyanka Mattoo
“A hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to be more than their appointments and obligations.” —Samantha Irby
"I have done everything right, and I have missed everything."
Think about what we choose to cut out or overlook as we approach the deep end of adulthood: Dessert. Naps. Pretty underwear. Sweaty dancing. “Pointless” hangs with the people we love most. And then, activities that used to be fun somehow lose their luster, usually in the decade between thirty and forty: summer vacation (exhaustion), stay-in-touch texting (bandwidth), finding the perfect restaurant (the algorithm).
When did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization?
Priyanka Mattoo shares her journey toward being less useful, delivering life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins and what it serves. Did you know karaoke can cure a stomachache? Or that Paddington Bear is a stealth lifestyle guru? Or that nobody actually asked you to do that labor-intensive thing you begrudgingly did? With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka shows us how to step out of the grind as a friend, as a partner, even as a parent, and welcome joy back into our lives without burning it all down.
What if, instead of being useful, we could all learn how to be happier, lighter, more present, more engaged?
Refreshingly funny and sparklingly astute, How to Be Less Useful is the perfect book for our current moment.
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Reviews
"If you’ve ever said to yourself, ‘I used to be fun!’ If you’ve struggled to relax, to ‘go with the flow,’ to let people sort things out for themselves. If you’ve craved an earlier, less harried version of your marriage, your life, yourself—this book is for you. In How To Be Less Useful, Priyanka Mattoo shows us how to be less and have more: more fulfillment, more authenticity, more ease, more joy.” —Maggie Smith, author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful
“Time is a thief, and too often we aid and abet that robber by denying ourselves little joys, by spending every minute of our one wild and precious life just trying to get to the next one. Thank the gods that Priyanka Mattoo is here to remind us that living like that sucks and we haven’t been sentenced to doing it. It’s okay for you to ease up and not always be ‘maxxing.’ This is a painfully relatable yet also hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to do and be more than their appointments and obligations.” —Samantha Irby, author of Wow, No Thank You.
“Priyanka Mattoo has written the funniest and most resonant survival guide for anxious eldest daughters everywhere. This is the liberating and necessary feminist manifesto for the modern age of optimization. I am so grateful she has brilliantly articulated what so many of us have been thinking: We need to do less.” —Bess Kalb, author of Nobody Will Tell You This But Me
“Read this book, gift it, annotate it, dog-ear the pages, tattoo its wisdom onto your arms and legs—Priyanka Mattoo is the older sister we all need in our lives.” —Diksha Basu, author of Destination Wedding
“Approachable and witty. . . . Offering a winning combination of memoir and self-improvement, this entertaining book is highly recommended.” —Jennifer Alexander, Library Journal (starred)
“Generous. . . . Overscheduled readers will appreciate the permission she offers to slow down and do less.” —Publishers Weekly
“A candid memoir of much-needed transformation.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Written with insightful wit and honest self-reflection.” —Lucy Yu, Electric Literature
“I didn’t set out to read this at the same time as All Fours, but I highly recommend it. Mattoo’s accessible and honest memoir was like the sensible counterweight to July’s novel.” —Katie McPherson, Scary Mommy (Editor Picks)
“Time is a thief, and too often we aid and abet that robber by denying ourselves little joys, by spending every minute of our one wild and precious life just trying to get to the next one. Thank the gods that Priyanka Mattoo is here to remind us that living like that sucks and we haven’t been sentenced to doing it. It’s okay for you to ease up and not always be ‘maxxing.’ This is a painfully relatable yet also hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to do and be more than their appointments and obligations.” —Samantha Irby, author of Wow, No Thank You.
“Priyanka Mattoo has written the funniest and most resonant survival guide for anxious eldest daughters everywhere. This is the liberating and necessary feminist manifesto for the modern age of optimization. I am so grateful she has brilliantly articulated what so many of us have been thinking: We need to do less.” —Bess Kalb, author of Nobody Will Tell You This But Me
“Read this book, gift it, annotate it, dog-ear the pages, tattoo its wisdom onto your arms and legs—Priyanka Mattoo is the older sister we all need in our lives.” —Diksha Basu, author of Destination Wedding
“Approachable and witty. . . . Offering a winning combination of memoir and self-improvement, this entertaining book is highly recommended.” —Jennifer Alexander, Library Journal (starred)
“Generous. . . . Overscheduled readers will appreciate the permission she offers to slow down and do less.” —Publishers Weekly
“A candid memoir of much-needed transformation.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Written with insightful wit and honest self-reflection.” —Lucy Yu, Electric Literature
“I didn’t set out to read this at the same time as All Fours, but I highly recommend it. Mattoo’s accessible and honest memoir was like the sensible counterweight to July’s novel.” —Katie McPherson, Scary Mommy (Editor Picks)
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