{"product_id":"how-to-be-less-useful-priyanka-mattoo-9780593803189","title":"How to Be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency","description":"\u003cb\u003eA delightful book about reclaiming pleasure in mid-life--a potent mix of self-help and memoir, from one of today's wittiest, wisest voices.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"I have done everything right, and I have missed everything.\" \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization? Especially as office workers, as parents, as consumers, as exercisers and healthy eaters. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all be less useful? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka Mattoo shares her own journey toward being a less useful human, to investigate why pleasure gets back-burnered in American culture. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThink about what we choose to systematically cut out or overlook as we mature: Solo travel. Dessert. Sweaty dancing. \"Pointless\" hangs with friends. And then there are the activities that used to be fun and have somehow lost their luster, usually in the decade between 30 and 40: Cooking (ruined by exhaustion). Bad tv (the algorithm). Other humans (bandwidth)\u003ci\u003e. \u003c\/i\u003eEating at restaurants (Instagram). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMattoo takes on the zeitgeist, delivering invaluable, laugh-out-loud entertaining life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins, what it serves, how we learn to repress it--in families, in friendships and romantic relationships, in jobs. And she shows us a way back: to identify and accept the things that give us pleasure, then to welcome them into our lives. What if, instead of being useful, we could all learn how to be happier, lighter, more present, more engaged? \u003ci\u003eHow to Be Less Useful\u003c\/i\u003e is refreshing, funny, sparklingly astute, unignorable--a book for the current moment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Priyanka Mattoo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0593803183\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593803189\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Knopf Publishing Group\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/03\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.89lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.75d","brand":"Priyanka Mattoo","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48447281365247,"sku":"9780593803189","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a849f1ec-a8bb-4719-a196-6f1ee7f16b86.jpg?v=1777230062","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/how-to-be-less-useful-priyanka-mattoo-9780593803189","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}