The cover of this slender volume speaks to my soul: a woman reclines on a bench-like chaise against a big cushion, a newspaper in one hand, a cat curled in the crook of her other arm. Absolutely heavenly! Sloth is volume 4 of Red Rock's Sin Series and is devoted to sloth, indolence, procrastination, disorganization and just plain goofing off.

A tiny snail creeps is way through the text which defends the slow-moving sloth -- its lack of speed is a survival mechanism -- traces the history of slothful fashion, inadvertently illustrated by Pablo Picasso, and "proves" that exercise can be hazardous to your health. There are delicious factoids throughout -- did you know that at the time of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, folks in Cooktown, Australia, held the Complete Relaxation Games? It included events such as "Chair Sleeping" and Navel Gazing."

One section is devoted to "Sloth on Screen" while another chapter points out that fine wines and cheese take their own sweet time to reach the peak of perfection. Find out what famous people did most of their work from bed, learn about goofs that paid off for the goofer and celebrate the joy of sleep. Finally, the book closes gently with a handy list of surefire excuses for all the things you didn't get done while reading the book.

Sloth: Ode to Disarray & Delay is a delightful and appealing book, packed with photographs, art reproductions and movie stills. It's the perfect book to buy yourself for a lazy afternoon or to give to that special sluggard in your life.

[ by Donna Scanlon ]
Rambles: 6 April 2002