Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In a tour of our workaholic society, where summers at the seashore have been supplanted by the long weekend, Gini draws on studies of Americans' vacation habits as well as interviews, personal stories, and the wry observations of philosophers, writers, and sociologists from Aristotle to Mark Twain to Thorstein Veblen." "Without true leisure, Gini says, we are diminished as individuals and as a society. Even if we love our jobs, find creativity, success, and pleasure in our work, we also crave, desire, and need not to work. The Importance of Being Lazy is our road map for learning how to play, doze, gaze, amble, and goof off without guilt."--Jacket.