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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 makes jobs either fulfilling 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, clever and inventive, de Botton's "song for occupations" is a celebration and exploration of an aspect of life that is all too often ignored and a book that shines a revealing light on the essential meaning of work in our lives.

De Botton's essays on a variety of endeavors--from accounting to cookie manufacturing to airplane construction--are at once wide ranging, shallow, heartfelt, ironic, and pretentious. David Colacci's lightly astringent voice is agreeable and a good choice for nonfiction; he's skillful, professional, and supplies emotional expression where it's called for. But the narration seems a bit by-the-numbers in the face of de Botton's philosophical and poetic views, and fails to reflect some of the author's nuances and ironies. The book is centered in England and studded with (unexplained) Briticisms, but fortunately Colacci uses his remarkably bad British accent only for the occasional direct quotation. Even his French is better! This is an adequate but unremarkable reading of a maverick book. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

 

Alain de Botton is the author of three works of fiction and six works of nonfiction, including How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy and The Art of Travel. He lives in London, where he founded The School of Life.