- Home
- Self-Help
- Personal Growth
- How to Be Less Useful (The Joy of Inefficiency)
How to Be Less Useful (The Joy of Inefficiency)
List Price:
$30.00
| Expected release date is Nov 3rd 2026 |
- Availability: Confirm prior to ordering
- Branding: minimum 50 pieces (add’l costs below)
- Check Freight Rates (branded products only)
Branding Options (v), Availability & Lead Times
- 1-Color Imprint: $2.00 ea.
- Promo-Page Insert: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed, single-sided page)
- Belly-Band Wrap: $2.50 ea. (full-color printed)
- Set-Up Charge: $45 per decoration
- Availability: Product availability changes daily, so please confirm your quantity is available prior to placing an order.
- Branded Products: allow 10 business days from proof approval for production. Branding options may be limited or unavailable based on product design or cover artwork.
- Unbranded Products: allow 3-5 business days for shipping. All Unbranded items receive FREE ground shipping in the US. Inquire for international shipping.
- RETURNS/CANCELLATIONS: All orders, branded or unbranded, are NON-CANCELLABLE and NON-RETURNABLE once a purchase order has been received.
Product Details
Author:
Priyanka Mattoo
Format:
Hardcover
Pages:
288
Publisher:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (November 3, 2026)
Imprint:
Knopf
Release Date:
November 3, 2026
Language:
English
Audience:
General/trade
ISBN-13:
9780593803189
ISBN-10:
0593803183
Weight:
13.79oz
Dimensions:
5.5" x 8.25" x 0.7188"
File:
RandomHouse-PRH_Book_Company_PRH_PRT_Onix_full_active_D20260405T164602_155746763-20260405.xml
Folder:
RandomHouse
List Price:
$30.00
Country of Origin:
United States
Pub Discount:
65
Case Pack:
12
As low as:
$23.10
Publisher Identifier:
P-RH
Discount Code:
A
QuickShip:
Yes
Overview
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.
"I have done everything right, and I have missed everything."
When did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization? Especially as office workers, as parents, as consumers, as exercisers and healthy eaters. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be less useful?
With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka Mattoo shares her own journey toward being a less useful human, to investigate why pleasure gets back-burnered in American culture.
Think about what we choose to systematically cut out or overlook as we mature: Solo travel. Dessert. Sweaty dancing. "Pointless" hangs with friends. And then there are the activities that used to be fun and have somehow lost their luster, usually in the decade between 30 and 40: Cooking (ruined by exhaustion). Bad tv (the algorithm). Other humans (bandwidth). Eating at restaurants (Instagram).
Mattoo takes on the zeitgeist, delivering invaluable, laugh-out-loud entertaining life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins, what it serves, how we learn to repress it—in families, in friendships and romantic relationships, in jobs. And she shows us a way back: to identify and accept the things that give us pleasure, then to welcome them into our lives. What if, instead of being useful, we could all learn how to be happier, lighter, more present, more engaged? How to Be Less Useful is refreshing, funny, sparklingly astute, unignorable--a book for the current moment.
"I have done everything right, and I have missed everything."
When did our lives become entirely about efficiency and optimization? Especially as office workers, as parents, as consumers, as exercisers and healthy eaters. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all be less useful?
With self-deprecating humor, devastating insight, and bracing honesty, Priyanka Mattoo shares her own journey toward being a less useful human, to investigate why pleasure gets back-burnered in American culture.
Think about what we choose to systematically cut out or overlook as we mature: Solo travel. Dessert. Sweaty dancing. "Pointless" hangs with friends. And then there are the activities that used to be fun and have somehow lost their luster, usually in the decade between 30 and 40: Cooking (ruined by exhaustion). Bad tv (the algorithm). Other humans (bandwidth). Eating at restaurants (Instagram).
Mattoo takes on the zeitgeist, delivering invaluable, laugh-out-loud entertaining life lessons without an ounce of preachiness or pressure. She looks at where pleasure begins, what it serves, how we learn to repress it—in families, in friendships and romantic relationships, in jobs. And she shows us a way back: to identify and accept the things that give us pleasure, then to welcome them into our lives. What if, instead of being useful, we could all learn how to be happier, lighter, more present, more engaged? How to Be Less Useful is refreshing, funny, sparklingly astute, unignorable--a book for the current moment.
