Effort is Overrated: Zen Parables from the Eightfold Matrix
Paperback
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN13: 9798247645696
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Mar 21 2026
Pages: 154
Weight: 0.47
Height: 0.36 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Mar 21 2026
Pages: 154
Weight: 0.47
Height: 0.36 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Effort Is Overrated is a collection of sixty-four short parables, each piece using ordinary objects, quiet absurdities, and moral misfires to question the modern habit of treating strain as proof of worth. Interspersed throughout the book are stark, woodcut-style illustrations that echo the parables' restraint, using simple forms and deliberate contrast to reinforce the humor and underlying tension of each piece. Written in a dry, humane voice that favors clarity over consolation, the book explores work, attention, identity, and virtue without offering instructions or improvement plans, allowing humor and paradox to do the work instead. The result is a compact, reflective volume meant to be read slowly, opened at random, or returned to whenever the urge to justify exhaustion begins to feel suspicious.
Also in
Humor
I Can't Believe I Did That: The Game That Gives You Points for Sharing Awkward, Awesome, and Unforgettable Memories: Card Games
Nadelberg, David
Katcher, Neil
Other
$20.00
The Science Magpie: Fascinating Facts, Stories, Poems, Diagrams and Jokes Plucked from Science
Flynn, Simon
Paperback
From $9.99
How to Be a Cat: (Cat Books for Kids, Cat Gifts for Kids, Cat Picture Book)
Swerling, Lisa
Lazar, Ralph
Hardcover
$4.99
The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason
Chapo Trap House
Hardcover
$11.99
Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers: A Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom from the Files of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
Hardcover
$9.99
Wtf America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy
Meiselas, Brett
Meiselas, Jordy
Meiselas, Ben
Hardcover
$30.88
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
From $19.99
Not Today, Fascists: The Lies That Got Us Here, and the Truths That Will Reunite Us
Welch, Jennifer
Hardcover
$26.09
Pardon My Book: Ten Years of the Best (and Worst) in Sports from Pardon My Take
Commenter, Pft
Big Cat
Hardcover
$33.25
Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love
Schur, Michael
Posnanski, Joe
Hardcover
$31.50
How to Grow Up Without Becoming a Grown-Up: Big Lessons from Little Kids
Shapiro-Barnum, Julian
Hardcover
$23.40
We've Been Here the Whole Time!: A Not So Sacred Guide to All Things Native America
Clift, Joey
Paperback
$21.84
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Five Novels in One Outrageous Volume
Adams, Douglas
Paperback
$23.40
Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to '90s Sitcoms
Bennett, Geoff
Hardcover
$29.69
The New Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Expert Advice for Extreme Situations
Borgenicht, David
Piven, Joshua
Hardcover
$18.95
We Are the World (Cup): A Personal History of the World's Greatest Sporting Event
Bennett, Roger
Hardcover
$27.00
There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent
Boozan, Glenn
Hardcover
$14.25
Bake It Off: An Unofficial Taylor Swift-Inspired Cookbook for Every Era, from Breakfast to Midnights
Smith, Lindsey
Hardcover
From $12.99
Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: The Art of Decluttering Before You Die (New York Times Bestseller)
Condo, Messie
Hardcover
$18.99
How to Talk to Your Cat about Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives
Auburn, Zachary
Paperback
From $6.99
