"Out of My Skull" by James Danckert and John D. Eastwood
Review by Borodutch
Wow, this book was boring. As one of the reviewers on Amazon points out, the authors define boredom in so many different ways yet find it challenging to point out what to do with this information succinctly. For the best summary, read this article in the Guardian. I don't think you'd miss out on content if you read a simplified and shortened version.
The book's main idea is that we all get bored, getting bored is normal, and sometimes boredom brings out hidden creativity. Make sure to get bored occasionally, slow down, and enjoy the world.
On the other hand, the whole media industry exploits our inherent fear of boredom by capturing and selling our attention. The next time you open your social apps and don't see anything new — put down the phone and go touch the grass.
Some of the authors' ideas might be wrong, e.g., boredom's evolutionary benefits. If we have a trait (in this case, the ability to be bored) today, it does not mean that it was beneficial to continuing the genetic line in the past. Some mutations are profoundly random and persist purely due to chance.
Go get bored.