After writer, artist, and movement practitioner Cody Cook-Parrott built their life and business around social media, they quickly learned that social media use enabled workaholism and distraction from real life and tough choices. Their new book, The Practice of Attention, offers a vulnerable exploration of how they overcame social media and technology addiction.
If you too need an alternative to endless scrolling, here are five books that Cody recommends:
by Liesl Clark and Rebecca Rockefeller
I love experiments with money – spending bans, spending plans, object studies. This book is by the two women who started the Buy Nothing movement and they offer so many beautiful actions to reclaim our values and be in more alignment. What I appreciate most is how practical it is—less manifesto, more invitation to try something small and see what shifts.
by Renee Gladman
Gladman has become one of my absolute favorite writers. I have devoured multiple books at this point, but Calamities shines through as my favorite. Beginning almost every section with the same phrasing – it’s a master class in cross genre prose work. Reading it makes me more aware of repetition, failure, and drift in my own thinking.
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
This short book brings the gift economy into a whole new light. You can read it in one sitting and take it all in. A perfect follow up if you loved Braiding Sweetgrass. It’s one of those books that subtly recalibrates how you think about value long after you’ve finished it.
by Melissa Febos
One of my most dog eared and highlighted books, specifically the first essay In praise of navel-gazing. Febos has a way of writing that is both poetic and straight forward, bringing the reader into the work to become a better artist, teacher, and writer. It gives me permission to linger, to stay with a thought or sensation longer than feels “productive.”
by Yvonne Rainer
One of the greatest dancers and writers, this book brings me deeper into my lineage as a movement practitioner and improviser. It is both a small monument of history and autobiography. A perfect and strange form, just like her dances. Reading it feels like sitting beside an elder who refuses to simplify the past.
Interested in more from Cody Cook-Parrott? The Practice of Attention is available now!
Cody Cook-Parrott is a writer, artist, and movement practitioner who builds simple structures that help artists make work. They write a weekly newsletter, host the podcast Common Shapes, and teach classes on quilting, writing, and creative business. They are also the author of How to Not Always be Working and Getting to Center. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Dance Magazine, and The Huffington Post.
