***Thought for Food*** is the debut [studio album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_album "Studio album") by American musical duo [the Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Books "The Books"). It was released on June 3, 2002 by Tomlab.[^4] The album exhibits the duo's characteristic [sampling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_\(music\) "Sampling (music)") from a variety of mundane and instrumental sources. ## Critical reception <table><caption>Professional ratings</caption><tbody><tr><th colspan="2">Review scores</th></tr><tr><th>Source</th><th>Rating</th></tr><tr><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AllMusic">AllMusic</a></td><td>^{<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#fn:5">5</a>}</td></tr><tr><td><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitchfork_(website)">Pitchfork</a></i></td><td>9.0/10 ^{<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#fn:6">6</a>}</td></tr><tr><td><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus_Magazine">Stylus Magazine</a></i></td><td>9.1/10 ^{<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#fn:7">7</a>}</td></tr><tr><td><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Mix_Tapes">Tiny Mix Tapes</a></i></td><td>4.5/5 ^{<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#fn:8">8</a>}</td></tr><tr><td><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Hull_%E2%80%93_on_the_Web">Tom Hull – on the Web</a></i></td><td>B+ () ^{<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#fn:9">9</a>}</td></tr></tbody></table> *[Pitchfork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitchfork_\(website\) "Pitchfork (website)")* ranked *Thought for Food* as the fourth best album of 2002,[^10] and as the 125th best album of the 2000s.[^11] In 2015, *[Spin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spin_\(magazine\) "Spin (magazine)")* ranked *Thought for Food* at number 285 on its list of "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years".[^2] ## Track listing All music is composed by The Books (Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto). <table><tbody><tr><th><abbr>No.</abbr></th><th>Title</th><th>Length</th></tr><tr><th>1.</th><td>"Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again"</td><td>4:05</td></tr><tr><th>2.</th><td>"Read, Eat, Sleep"</td><td>3:46</td></tr><tr><th>3.</th><td>"All Bad Ends All"</td><td>2:42</td></tr><tr><th>4.</th><td>"Contempt"</td><td>3:20</td></tr><tr><th>5.</th><td>"All Our Base Are Belong to Them"</td><td>4:18</td></tr><tr><th>6.</th><td>"Thankyoubranch"</td><td>5:05</td></tr><tr><th>7.</th><td>"Motherless Bastard"</td><td>4:11</td></tr><tr><th>8.</th><td>"Mikey Bass"</td><td>2:52</td></tr><tr><th>9.</th><td>"Excess Straussess"</td><td>2:06</td></tr><tr><th>10.</th><td>"Getting the Done Job"</td><td>3:49</td></tr><tr><th>11.</th><td>"A Dead Fish Gains the Power of Observation"</td><td>1:07</td></tr><tr><th>12.</th><td>"Deafkids"</td><td>1:10</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2"><span>Total length:</span></th><td>38:31</td></tr></tbody></table>