Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in exchange for honest feedback.

If you have the time to read a 350+ page book about saving time, I'm happy for you. I loved Jenny Odell's last book and was excited to sit down with this one. It just felt like it could have been condensed quite a bit. Ended up skimming most of it.

Ugh - I'm not enamored with Saving Time. The book feels very disjointed, like it's lots of thoughts without concrete conclusions, and felt very negative in overall tone. While I still highlighted some things and saved some passages, it just felt like it was more of little pieces rather than one full piece of work. Overall, I much prefer How To Do Nothing, and I'll recommend that but probably not this one.

This one fascinated me conceptually, but the experience reading it felt heavy and laborious - i resonated with a lot of the comments made in Parul Sehgal’s review and would recommend checking that out if you’re also struggling with this

This book is astounding, and impossible to categorize or describe adequately. Jenny Odell considers our linear, productivity-driven view of time, and offers different ways to change our perspective. There are long passages about nature, climate change, the economy, social justice movements, crip time, houseworkers' wages, Pando in Utah, ochre sea stars, I could go on and on. I was never not fascinated. Reading one of her books is like dipping your toes in hundreds of other books written over hundreds of years. She quotes from them, explains them, helps you understand them. This will sound dramatic, but every time I sat down to read this book, I left feeling more human, or more aware of my humanity--aren't those both the same thing anyhow?

I can't think of a person who I wouldn't recommend this book to.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book.

Saving Time took a bit more time to make my way through than Odell's previous work, How to Do Nothing. I felt like this latest read wasn't as well organized and the writing was less smooth than the previous one. Yet, I did find myself connecting to her thoughts and gained some things to think about. I think some patrons will really connect with it, so we will be purchasing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.

I'm ~70% through this and tapping out. I enjoyed How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, but this feels deeply aware of some of the criticism that book got and seems like it's constantly trying to outrun and respond to that, which gets irritating at times. There are meandering narrative sections between the reflections in each chapter that I absolutely was skimming over towards the end of my time with this book, and though it keeps asking "whose time is being wasted", I felt like it was mine. Maybe I'll return to this in a few years, but right now this was the wrong book at the wrong time.

Saving Time by Jenny Odell is a holistic exploration of our world and our relationship with time. Like How to Do Nothing, Odell goes deep and offers insightful musings, research, and ideas around the attention economy. That being said, her ideas in this book are a little more stream of consciousness / hard to follow than her previous work. Overall, her intentions are clear and successful but this is not a quick or easy read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC - Saving Time is out now!

"...Jenny Odell might call our newborn our “zeitgeber”—a German word which translates roughly to “time giver,” and refers to “something that organizes and patterns your time.” The five-day workweek of my past life is a zeitgeber; so are rush hour, the Sabbath, school schedules, and a child’s moods. Often, various zeitgebers in a person’s life will clash, like needing to wake up in the dark for an early shift, the body and capitalism in conflict.

In Odell’s new book, Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, she deconstructs the zeitgebers of the modern, Western world, in which time is money and your time is only as valuable as your labor. In her words, she “set out to try to find a conception of time that wasn’t painful—something other than time as money, climate dread, or fear of dying....”

https://lithub.com/on-saving-time-as-a-new-mother-rachel-ranie-taube-reads-jenny-odell/

I was only a third of the way through this e-ARC when I realized that I had to pre-order a physical copy of Saving Time. I had already found myself highlighting so many sentences and quietly saying "yes" under my breath. If How to Do Nothing was a meditation on the realms in which we focus our attention, then Saving Time is a deep dive into the myriad ways that we can and do experience literal time.

Odell begins Saving Time by diving into the history of the clock and the twenty-four-hour day. From there, she connects time standardization to a broad cultural obsession with work, productivity, and "making the most of our time." Odell dissects the idea that many of us have unknowingly absorbed: that productivity can be equated with morality. She then explores how that particular cultural norm and others all regarding time ultimately uphold colonial, puritanical, and capitalist structures that are harmful to vast swaths of humanity. Odell reminds us that our work is not our worth and that the phrase "time is money" is a damaging capitalist lie.

As a whole, Saving Time is a reminder to consider alternative ways of how we perceive our time here on earth. By exploring working-class burnout, the liminality of prison sentences, the creeping pace of geological shifts, indigenous experience, mortality, and so much more, Odell does more than merely ask us to reconsider how we view time. Rather, she shows us a wide variety of temporality and offers us a chance at new approaches to everyday life.

Saving Time is a hopeful and deeply empathetic read. This book gave me a much-needed push into experiencing a more ecological and global sense of time - and of living. I'm already looking forward to reading this book again.

Good book filled with information and insights on the subject. Some parts are a bit dry but most are engaging and enjoyable.

3.5/5 ⭐ I am a huge fan of how Jenny Odell's mind works. Her previous work "How to Do Nothing" was quite possibly my favorite read of the last 5 years. To be honest, at this point I would be invested in reading her thoughts on most topics.

It's difficult to make lightning strike twice, and I have to say that the train of thought in this book is a bit harder to follow than that of her previous venture. Accessibility aside, I do think the ideas in this work are so thoughtfully expressed and therefore valuable. I just wish an editor could have helped the narrative flow a little more cohesively.

Despite some of these critiques, I found myself constantly discussing the book with friends, and her writing has sparked all of us to think a bit more intentionally about our relationship to time. For this reason I do think the book is a success. Odell remains one of my favorite contemporary thinkers. I truly looking forward to hearing her speak about the work.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This took me quite a while to get through, but not in a bad way. I think that I really was truly savoring and digesting every page. It was so thought provoking and I made so many annotations, because I really want to keep chewing on these concepts for much longer to come. I think that this book was even more striking that Odell's previous writing, but I think that overall her body of work will resonate for a long, long time. Grateful that I got to read this beautiful book early and be able to consider it throughout my year..

“..𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

“𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦..𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.”

An important reminder that time is fungal.

Time is not money.

Time is beans.

Rocks are alive.

See time as fungal.

Odell writes with a voice that hums with Oakland heat, you know, those long lazy walks round Lake Merritt that remind you again how wonderful life is. Because you’re looking at the people. You’re looking at the families and the kids running and the lovers and the old folks and you think, I could be any one of these people.

Because time is shared.

“..𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

“𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦..𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.”

Time moves like lava. It moves in all directions at difference paces. Time covers ground like moss. Time goes beyond start to finish. Time is the rest the tortoise takes to race the hare.

But it’s because time is eurocentric, systematic, and labor-intensive do we fail to realize that time is non-linear. It’s hard to see beyond the capitalistic chokehold America is under. This is why people fail. This is why people die.

“𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥-𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘵."

We do not all have the same amount of time. 24 hours for a coal miner is much different for the influencer in Bali.

But how do we see time as fungal but without hope?

Odell is hopeful. And she is most encouraging for those that see so much doom in the future.

“𝘐𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥—𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦—𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭."

She ends with hope:

"𝘛𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.."

I really appreciate this book; I got so much out of it, and I would definitely recommend it. I might even like it more than How to Do Nothing.

I do wish that I'd thought about the fact that I'd probably other to read this as an audiobook; it took me a while to get through this as-is, but still, it was definitely engaging.

I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Jenny Odell is one of the deepest thinkers out there, writing books that are both accessible and quite scholarly. Like How to Do Nothing, capitalism and climate are at the root of her concerns, but she comes at them in creative and humane ways that urge connection both to other people and the environment. She resists doom and has good reasons for it and I am both challenged and heartened by her writing.

This dense but very readable nonfiction pick gave me some interesting ideas to consider about our conception of time.

I read Odell’s 2019 release How To Do Nothing, and was enchanted by some of the concepts she presented. I still think about it to this day, and some of her ideas, like “manifest dismantling” are ones that still inform some of my choices. I love that! I jumped at the opportunity to read her March 2023 book Saving Time. It’s quite similar, and presents a new suite of ideas.

The first chapters discuss our current Westernized notions of time. Time is seen as a quantifiable entity, something that can be broken down into “fungible units”: divisible periods of time that can be used as units of productivity. This was fascinating, and plays into the idea of capitalism, the expansion economy and the question of who is buying whose time? Odell then explored self-timing, the notion of the Protestant work ethic, personal time efficiency, and “performance productivity.” Essentially we sell our time to others, or we police ourselves in the name of self improvement and pursuing efficiency and excellence.

With that established, she discusses how the privileged among us pay a cost to opt out of this system, but it is a lower cost than someone who has less privilege. It is easier for those of us with means to choose to live a different way, and with a different notion of what time means, if we choose to. I appreciate how Odell is always mindful of this issue. She also encourages us to consider “mediocrity” in the fight against time as money, and to refuse the wholesale embrace of endless expansion.

I liked Chapter 5 particularly, as she brings in the notion of linear time (chronos) to the climate emergency. The mental attitude of declinism–that all is in decay in the world and there is inevitable catastrophe coming–is a function of thinking of time on a human-life scale, and neglecting the notion of geological time. We see the forest in our own time, static–but it is a living entity that needs cycles of growth, decay and fire to maintain its vibrant health. We need to consider the “forest time,” or the “mountain's time” rather than just our own. She also includes a good discussion of the notion of the “apocalypse”: we see this as unique to our own time, which leads to nihilism. But we must remember that many societies have faced their own apocalypse already, and endured it. There is hope. The chapter was sobering but encouraging, because it ends with the urge for us to continue to gain a time-perspective on these issues, and to band with others to process our grief and distress.

In the end, I found this book to be an excellent and very informative read, though be warned that it is chock fuoo of fact and a dense read. That said, I’d highly recommend this if you are ready for a deep dive into sideways thinking and looking at some questions that might be a little tough.

A thoughtful exploration of time, different conceptualizations of it, and how we can use it. Full of research and the author’s reflections, it is a provocative read that poses many questions that do not have easy solutions. I would have liked more focus on time as a commodity and who gets the privilege of more (“leisure”) time and recommendations for more time equity.

This is dense and not easily accessible (somewhere between academic and reader-friendly but closer to the academic). I would recommend it to anyone looking for an intellectual and philosophical read.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Odell is a masterful writer and thinker and would make an excellent addition to an AP Language and Composition class. Odell makes a subtle and well developed point about how we think about time, and does so through history and her own experience - I think students would connect with this, either in selections (as chapters shared individually) or as a whole text.