Lebenskünstler

In Praise of the Spanish Siesta – Joe Robinson

At a time when productivity is the world’s largest religion, the siesta tradition lives on.

“We are an efficiency-oriented society,” he says. “It is perhaps the dominant value in this culture. The faster things get done, the better off we’re going to be. The idea of efficiency at all costs seems to be all-pervasive. It tends to invade our leisure. Unfortunately, socializing doesn’t have a ‘yield.’ It’s hard to develop relationships; those things take time.”