The Freedom Manifesto - by Tom Hodgkinson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Drawing from writings by such iconoclasts as William Godwin and Jack Kerouac, the author of How To Be Idle returns with sage advice for breaking with convention and living an unfettered life

In this delightfully irreverent follow-up to his acclaimed How to Be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson shares his musings on what it means to have true independence and what the common man needs to achieve happiness through freedom.

The Freedom Manifesto is an erudite, witty, and useful manual for anyone who wants to look after themselves and take responsibility for their own lives. Hodgkinson advises lowering personal standards, learning the guitar, cooperating with neighbors, throwing away credit cards, and embracing poverty. Peppered throughout are insights from such great minds as Rousseau, Ken Kesey, Nietzsche, and many others that reveal the secret happiness found in a free mind.

From the Back Cover

The author of How to Be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson, now shares his delightfully irreverent musings on what true independence means and what it takes to be free. The Freedom Manifesto draws on French existentialists, British punks, beat poets, hippies and yippies, medieval thinkers, and anarchists to provide a new, simple, joyful blueprint for modern living. From growing your own vegetables to canceling your credit cards to reading Jean-Paul Sartre, here are excellent suggestions for nourishing mind, body, and spirit--witty, provocative, sometimes outrageous, yet eminently sage advice for breaking with convention and living an uncluttered, unfettered, and therefore happier, life.

Review Quotes

"Great enjoyment . . . excellent jokes." - New York Times Book Review

"A true literary gem... irresistible." - USA Today

"[A] sly manifesto. . . . Hodgkinson makes his case in this wise and playful book, which opens up the possibilities by questioning basic assumptions . . . compelling." - Raleigh News & Observer