The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton's

We spend most of our waking lives at

work-in occupations often chosen by our unthinking

younger selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got

there or what our occupations mean to us.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work is an exploration of the

joys and perils of the modern workplace, beautifully evoking

what other people wake up to do each day-and night-to

make the frenzied contemporary world function. With a

philosophical eye and his signature combination of wit and

wisdom, Alain de Botton leads us on a journey around a

deliberately eclectic range of occupations, from rocket

science to biscuit manufacture, accountancy to art-in

search of what make jobs either fulflling or

soul-destroying.

Along the way he tries to answer some of the most urgent

questions we can ask about work: Why do we do it? What

makes it pleasurable? What is its meaning? And why do we

daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet?

Characteristically lucid, witty and inventive, Alain de

Botton's "song for occupations" is a celebration and

exploration of an aspect of life which is all too often

ignored and a book that shines a revealing light on the

essential meaning of work in our lives.