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Yawn

Adventures in Boredom

Mary Mann

FSG Originals

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ISBN10: 0374535841
ISBN13: 9780374535841

Trade Paperback

176 Pages

$16.00

CA$20.50

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It’s the feeling your grandma told you was only experienced by boring people. Some people say they’re dying of it; others claim to have killed because of it. It’s a key component of depression, creativity, and sex-toy advertisements.

It’s boredom, of course! And it's the subject of Yawn, a delightful and moving take on the oft-derided state of mind and how we deal with it. Deftly wrought from interviews, research, and personal experience, Yawn follows Mary Mann’s search through history for the truth about boredom, spanning the globe and introducing a varied cast of characters. We meet the Desert Fathers, fourth-century Christian monks who made their homes far from civilization and who offer the first recorded accounts of lethargy; Thomas Cook, grandfather of the tourism industry, who provided escape from the mundane for England’s working class; modern couples who are disenchanted by monogamous sex, deployed soldiers who seek entertainment and connection in porn; and prisoners held in solitary confinement, for whom boredom is a punishment.

With sharp wit and impressive historical acumen, Mann tells the unexpected story of the hunt for a deeper understanding of boredom, in all its absurd, irritating, and inspiring splendor.

Reviews

Praise for Yawn

"I am now compelled to specify the two commodities that I most cherish in nonfiction: 1) lots and lots of authorial voice and, 2) a modicum of surprise . . . Ms. Mann has both these qualities in spades. By trade a researcher (‘like being a private detective, without the danger and the sex’), the delightful Ms. Mann comes off as a funny, very hip nerd."—Hebry Alford, The New York Times

"Mann's research traces several fascinating ways boredom has shaped social development and habits . . . [Mann] manages to avoid the biggest pitfall of a book on boredom—she doesn't solve it."—Genevieve Valentine, NPR.org

“An exhilarating tour of apathy, restlessness, torpor, depression, paralysis and the places in between—all without a single longueur. Beautifully done.”—Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches

"Especially in interesting times, we need books by writers as nimble-minded and searching as Mary Mann. Yawn is fleet-footed and wise, grounded by Mann's methodical curiosity. Mann possesses that rare, rare thing—a big-hearted mind."—Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock

"This book of essays on boredom is anything but soporific. Exploring such different settings as the workplace, war zones, and libraries, Mann offers a witty and enjoyable discourse on a ubiquitous state of mind . . . Mann's wit and honesty will draw readers in, relegating actual boredom to the back burner until they've finished reading."—Publishers Weekly

Reviews from Goodreads

BOOK EXCERPTS

Read an Excerpt

1

IN A CUBICLE WITH THE DESERT FATHERS


We were talking about work, naturally. The table was littered with beer bottles and the view out the plate-glass restaurant window was of a street in Kansas City, but it could have been a...