"Great fun! An engaging collection in the finest tradition of Douglas Coupland and Timothy McSweeney."—Ben Schott, author of Schott’s Original Miscellany Hilarious and wildly inventive, The War Against Boredom is a welcomed assault on the mind-numbing effects of the modern world. Reverse-engineering obsessions with Big Data, the Internet, movies, coffee shops, pot, spying, rock stars, relationships and sex scandals, author Seth Kaufman morphs reality into comedy with 21 short stories and satirical columns. It's a must-read for fans of the author's acclaimed novel, The King of Pain, and anyone who likes adventurous humor writing. Notable skirmishes in The War Against Boredom: • A husband hires a business consultant to help improve his marriage. • An assistant engineer recalls working with Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and a llama. • An insurance actuary becomes a star by decoding the odds for the Academy Awards. • A caustic National Security Administration advice columnist answers questions and exposes employees. • Cheech and Chong reunite to over a golden hookah. • A techie conducts an old school search for love in the intriguing “Segway in Overdrive.”