Despite our constant search for new ways to optimize our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. Why can't we just take a break? Pulling together threads from history, neuroscience, social science, and even paleontology, Celeste Headlee examines long-held assumptions about time use, idleness, hard work, and our ultimate goals, teaching instead how to return to a way of life that allows us to thrive.