How to Be Less Useful: The Joy of Inefficiency
About this book
A delightful book about reclaiming pleasure in mid-life—a potent mix of self-help and memoir, from one of today’s wittiest, wisest voices.
“A hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to be more than their appointments and obligations.” —Samantha Irby
"I have done everything right, and I have missed everything."
Think about what we choose to cut out or overlook as we approach the deep end of adulthood: Dessert. Naps. Pretty underwear. Sweaty dancing. “Pointless” hangs with the people we love most. And then, activities that used to be fun somehow lose their luster, usually in the decade between thirty and forty: summer vacation (exhaustion), stay-in-touch texting (bandwidth), finding the perfect restaurant (the algorithm).
When did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization?
Priyanka Mattoo shares her journey toward being less useful, delivering life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins and what it serves. Did you know karaoke can cure a stomachache? Or that Paddington Bear is a stealth lifestyle guru? Or that nobody actually asked you to do that labor-intensive thing you begrudgingly did? With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka shows us how to step out of the grind as a friend, as a partner, even as a parent, and welcome joy back into our lives without burning it all down.
What if, instead of being useful, we could all learn how to be happier, lighter, more present, more engaged?
Refreshingly funny and sparklingly astute, How to Be Less Useful is the perfect book for our current moment.
Author: Priyanka Mattoo
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2026-11-03
Pages: 288
ISBN: 9780593803189
Praise for this book
Priyanka Mattoo has written the funniest and most resonant survival guide for anxious eldest daughters everywhere. This is the liberating and necessary feminist manifesto for the modern age of optimization. I am so grateful she has brilliantly articulated what so many of us have been thinking: We need to do less.
Read this book, gift it, annotate it, dog-ear the pages, tattoo its wisdom onto your arms and legs—Priyanka Mattoo is the older sister we all need in our lives.
A candid memoir of much-needed transformation.
Written with insightful wit and honest self-reflection.
Generous. . . . Overscheduled readers will appreciate the permission she offers to slow down and do less.
Quoted in excerpt, with attribution. Follow a source link for the full review.
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