Subtitle: or, How Not to Want to do Better
Author: Nicholas Samstag
Edition Cited in The Compleat Witch
Publisher: Ivan Obolensky, Inc.
City: New York
Year: 1962
Pages: 147
Binding: Hardback
Size: 6″ x 8.5″
Binding: Hardback
Size: 6″ x 8.5″
(from the cited edition)
THE USES OF INEPTITUDE
or/How Not To Want To Do Better
by NICHOLAS SAMSTAG
When the first chapter of this book was featured in the Saturday Review under the title “Surcease for Caesars,” it produced a spate of enthusiastic letters. Apparently people agreed with the author: they indeed ardently wished not to want to do better at many things so they could, instead, become perfectly smashing at one thing. And the reader may well discover that he, too, is tired of serving indiscriminate ambition and, like the man on the horns of a dilemma, riding off in all directions at once.
But breaking the pattern is not easy. As the author points out, all the forces of society, spousery and self-delusion conspire to keep him in bondage.
In The Uses of Ineptitude, Nicholas Samstag examines some important and sensitive areas in which the passion to do better may have paled. He describes in detail how to recognize and fan the spark of rebellion, how to stop treadmilling away at things you don’t really want to do and start relaxing creatively among the things you do want to do. He writes with wit, wisdom and sometimes terrifying frankness No holds are barred; no cows are sacred here. For many this book will be a revelation. For some revolution. For others a sort of litmus paper with which to test the relative acidity of their lives.
Back Dust Jacket Flap Copy
or/How Not To Want To Do Better
by NICHOLAS SAMSTAG
When the first chapter of this book was featured in the Saturday Review under the title “Surcease for Caesars,” it produced a spate of enthusiastic letters. Apparently people agreed with the author: they indeed ardently wished not to want to do better at many things so they could, instead, become perfectly smashing at one thing. And the reader may well discover that he, too, is tired of serving indiscriminate ambition and, like the man on the horns of a dilemma, riding off in all directions at once.
But breaking the pattern is not easy. As the author points out, all the forces of society, spousery and self-delusion conspire to keep him in bondage.
In The Uses of Ineptitude, Nicholas Samstag examines some important and sensitive areas in which the passion to do better may have paled. He describes in detail how to recognize and fan the spark of rebellion, how to stop treadmilling away at things you don’t really want to do and start relaxing creatively among the things you do want to do. He writes with wit, wisdom and sometimes terrifying frankness No holds are barred; no cows are sacred here. For many this book will be a revelation. For some revolution. For others a sort of litmus paper with which to test the relative acidity of their lives.
(from the cited edition)
About the Author
The works of NICHOLAS SAMSTAG range from light verse to essays and philosophy. Author of a definitive work on the art of persuasion, PERSUASION FOR PROFIT, Mr. Samstag has long been associated with Time and is a public speaker much in demand.
His writings have appeared in The New Yorker; he reviews books for The Saturday Review and he has just completed a book of epigrams, AN ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS. His KAY-KAY COMES HOME, a fable for children and adults with drawings by Ben Shahn, was recently published by Ivan Obolensky, Inc.
(from the cited edition)
Online Resources
Archive.org | GoodReads | Google Books | LibraryThing
Editions
(arranged by year)
(Scan by Rev. Byrd)
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1962
Publisher: Ivan Obolensky, Inc.; New York
Pages: 147
Binding: Hardback
Size: 6″ x 8.5″
Binding: Hardback
Size: 6″ x 8.5″
Cover Price: $3.50
ISBN:
LoC: 62-10810
ISBN:
LoC: 62-10810
Notes:
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1962
Publisher: Astor-Honor Inc
Pages:
Binding: Paperback
Size:
Binding: Paperback
Size:
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ISBN:
LoC:
ISBN:
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Additional Photos/Images
(None)
Misc. Quotes
“He vows that from now on, he will accept himself with all his faults, or at least with most of them. At any rate, he is not going to spend as many hours or as much vitality in remorse or prayer or good works to alleviate the pangs of conscience as has been his habit. He determines to disregard the disapproval of family, friends and the community while he moves aheads on his new course, to all appearances sans conscience, sans prayer, sans Freud, sans everything.”
“Consider what you would do with some of the many hours and a share of the energy that you now squander on people who contribute little or nothing to your income or happiness or development as a human being.”
“The wonder is not that so many people have sick or battered souls, but that they think they have souls at all.”
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