ROBERT DESSAIX

After finally admitting that he was hopeless at all forms of leisure except siestas and cooking soup, travel writer and memoirist Robert Dessaix decided to write a book about the importance of leisure. “You should always write about things you’re in the middle of discovering if you want your readers to stay with you,” he says, “not things you know all about.” He claims to have now mastered travelling in India, having coffee with friends and doing absolutely nothing at all. See page 158.