Best Book of 2025: 'The Ethics of Boredom and Idleness'

Hello, this is Tsugumi, living in Ireland.

This is the number one recommendation and the most shocking book I read in 2025.

It is a difficult but fascinating read that deciphers the thoughts of philosophers like Heidegger, Spinoza, and Russell, as well as the biologist von Uexküll.
For those like me who are in the third form of boredom—a 'vague boredom'—I think this book has a lot to offer!

1. What stayed with me

What left a strong impression on me in this book was,
① the difference between 'consumption' and 'waste,' and ② the concept of the 'Umwelt' (self-centered world).

This book does not treat boredom as a psychological problem, but rather re-examines it from the structure of consumer society and the very nature of human existence. Professor Kokubun is so cool!

2. Consumption and Waste: Why we get caught up in an endless game

Through sedentary life, humans gained 'leisure.' The leisure of the worker was exploited and became the leisure of the leisure class. And the leisure class became professionals at killing time. (There is much to learn from this class in terms of killing time.)

The boredom that was once held only by the leisure class was eventually taken on by the working class as well.

Specifically, the Ford consumer society is cited as an example.
Workers at Ford earn wages, buy Ford cars, go on leisure trips, and by consuming more, they accumulate capital for Ford.
It is an era where leisure itself is converted into capital.

What is important here is the difference between 'waste' and 'consumption.'
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Eating something delicious → Waste, it has an end.

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[[phN_open]]Going to a famous restaurant to get the story of 'having been there' → Consumption, it has no end.[[phN_close]]There is a limit to the waste of enjoying things and services.However, there is no end to the consumption of symbols and ideas. Consumer society noticed this, replaced the things beyond distraction with symbols and concepts, and people were made to participate in an endless consumption game.

A certain author I like once joked that they went to Machu Picchu just to become 'a person who has been to Machu Picchu.' I have also been to Machu Picchu. But my trip to Machu Picchu was one of the top three wonderful trips of my life.
Even if the action of visiting Machu Picchu is the same, the meaning associated with it differs from person to person.

I have also done countless acts of consumption just to tell people about them, but I am too embarrassed to give examples.

'Work worth living for'
'A fulfilling life'
Even seeking meaning in labor has been incorporated into a game of consuming the symbol of 'meaning.'

It is scary to think about one's own consumption and waste.

3. Labor, work, and the art of living leisure

This book distinguishes between labor and work.
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The fruits of labor are consumed

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The fruits of work persist in the world (art is typical)
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When told that, one might want to ask, 'So, does work that doesn't persist in the world have no meaning?' But the author says this:
'You can go fishing without needing to become a fisherman.
You can write literary criticism without needing to become a critic.
That is one art of living leisure.'Humans cannot endure a state of having nothing to do.So they look for work.But escaping into the role of work is not the only solution.

4. Umwelt: Humans are beings that 'cannot stay in one world'

The most shocking concept in this book is the biologist von Uexküll's 'Umwelt.'

According to von Uexküll, the idea that all living things live in the same world, the same time, and the same space is an illusion.
Each organism lives in its own unique world composed only of signals that have meaning.

The example of the tick is symbolic.
The tick's world is made of only three signals:
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The smell of butyric acid
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A temperature of 37 degrees Celsius

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Skin with little hair

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Unlike the human world, there is no light, wind, or beauty in the forest. Yet, the tick does not get lost.

That is because it is 'completely immersed' in that world. It cannot see or hear, but it jumps from a branch by the smell of butyric acid, falls onto an animal with body heat, and when it finds skin, it sucks blood. That is the entirety of the tick's world.
On the other hand, what about humans?Humans cannot 'remain trapped' in a single Umwelt.They easily detach from it and imagine other possibilities.'I feel like I don't belong here''Isn't there something more meaningful elsewhere?'This ability to move between Umwelten is precisely human freedom, and at the same time, the source of boredom.Humans are beings that cannot fully belong anywhere.

5. The exit from boredom — 'Waiting to become an animal'

The book presents three solutions.

① Having a new understanding of boredom (the author himself says you will get this if you read the book through! lol)

② Training the ability to enjoy things

③ 'Waiting to become an animal' that is immersed in a single Umwelt

Enjoying things requires training.
This applies not only to art that requires cultivation, but also to eating, living, and pleasures rooted in the body. Eating because you think it is delicious is different from going to a restaurant that is said to be delicious.

Furthermore, people sometimes lower their ability to move between Umwelten.
The moment you are carried away by something, you become immersed in that world and cannot move.
A situation where you have no choice but to think.
Time spent deeply immersed in one world. While it is phrased in a difficult way, I think from comparisons with other books that it is the moment one falls into what is called flow or the zone.

Deleuze called this 'waiting.'
It seems he made a habit of going to places where he was easily carried away, like museums or movie theaters. The place or trigger for that differs for each individual. A trigger to enter a flow state. It reminded me of what I read before in 'The Passion for Skill Acquisition.'

While accepting being human, temporarily become an animal. Wait for that moment.

Summary

Boredom is not a defect.
It is a side effect of human freedom!

Therefore, do not try to eliminate boredom.
Do not get caught up in the game of consuming excitement.
Instead, find a place for yourself where you can be taken in by the world. Wait there.

I believe this book taught me not 'how to defeat boredom,' but 'how to coexist with it.'

This book was difficult for me, and it took quite a long time to read and summarize, but by writing this log, I was able to organize my thoughts and reaffirm that the content of the book is deeply etched into my mind. Reading output is great!

May I encounter many more masterpieces this year!