It’s a silly little volume, but “The Hedonism Handbook: Mastering the Lost Arts of Leisure and Pleasure” (Da Capo, $12.95) is a refreshing change from earnest self-help books. In fact, it claims to be an anti-self-help book.
Author Michael Flocker’s theme is an old one: We’re working too hard and not stopping to smell the roses, eat chocolate and have sex. But the venerable subject of hedonism–a lifestyle in the pursuit of pleasure–allows Flocker to bring out historical authorities from Epicurus to Cher to give American worker bees permission to go on vacation without a laptop, say, or just take a lunch break.
He makes his points with wit, though the lists he uses to pad out the book are frequently less than useful or funny.
Flocker does draw a distinction between too much that’s too much (addictions, mindless TV watching) and too much that’s just enough. “Excess may be bad,” he writes, “but self-deprivation is just stupid.”
He’s not saying we should quit our jobs and drop out of society but rather that a life worth living requires making room in every day for slowing down and enjoying ourselves. Hmm, sounds a little like a self-help book after all.
On the overrating of perfection: “Venus de Milo was nothing until her arms fell off.”
