Help me find this book

December 14, 2004 4:55 AM

Another lost book for you: a book that tells you how many minutes of your life you spend on average waiting for the elevator to come, waiting in front of red traffic lights, sitting on the toilet, etc. Probably depressing to read, but I'd still like to find it.
posted by Skyanth to media & arts (5 comments total)

Is it Faster by James Gleick?
posted by nylon at 6:14 AM on December 14, 2004

it might be the (fictional) book reviewed by stanislaw lem in "one human minute".
posted by andrew cooke at 7:32 AM on December 14, 2004

Yep, One Human Minute is exactly what this sounds like.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 2:14 PM on December 14, 2004

Nicholson Baker plays around with this idea in The Mezzanine, where he tries to calculate how many minutes of one's life are spent retying shoelaces.
posted by verstegan at 3:04 PM on December 14, 2004

I just had a look at One Human Minute and it's quite definitely not that. But it is on my wishlist now. "Faster" comes closer to the book I'm thinking of, but doesn't seem to be it. It's more pop-sci than Faster. And it's not The Mezzanine either, sadly.
posted by Skyanth at 11:37 PM on December 14, 2004