The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure, and Vacations

Drawing upon in-depth case studies of vacation habits and the observations of philosophers, writers, and sociologists such as Aristotle, Mark Twain and Thorstein Veblen, Al Gini argues why vacations are so venerated and why ’doing nothing’ is a fundamental human necessity.

From shopping sprees and extreme sports to the ultimate vacation - retirement - The Importance of Being lazy demonstrates that without true leisure, we are diminished as individuals and as a society.

Al Gini is a Philosophy Professor at Loyola University Chicago and a member of Loyola’s Institute of Human Resources and Industrial Relations. He is the co-founder and Associate Editor of the journal Business EthicsQuarterly and the author of Why IT’s Hard to BeGood(Routledge).