Is absolute idleness a good idea? This month the David Lloyd fitness chain launched a class in niksen, a Dutch trend of purposeless idleness that is sweeping the world.
Gym chain launches classes in doing nothing
Switching off: Gustave Caillebotte's The Nap shows bourgeois leisure in the 19th Century. Glossary
Borneo - The third-largest island in the world, known for its biodiversity.
Utilitarian - A school of ethics that focuses on maximising people’s happiness and minimising their suffering.
Industrial Revolution - A period of sudden, rapid industrialisation that transforms a country from an agricultural to an industrial economy.
Middle Ages - The Middle Ages was the period in European history that came between ancient and modern times. It lasted from about 500 to about 1500.
Peasants - A historical term often used to describe poorer people who worked in farming.
Hunter-gatherers - Humans who lived an ancient way of life in which they foraged for food and occasionally hunted, but did not farm.
Agriculture - The practice of farming and growing food from the land.
Old Testament - The first part of the Christian Bible, and is mainly based on the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh).
Toil - Work very hard.
Solomon - In the Old Testament, the monarch of ancient Israel and the son of King David.
Apostles - Each of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ.
Protestant - A Christian religious movement that began in Europe in the early 16th Century.
Calvinists - Believers of a major branch of Protestant Christianity, following the ideas of John Calvin. They believe in predestination — the idea that God has already chosen who will go to heaven.
Karl Marx - A 19th-Century German economist and philosopher who argued that capitalism was doomed to collapse.