The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

Aug 16, 2012 Esteban del Mal rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, pictures, when-the-world-was-new, bakersfield-trepanation-society

A desultory meditation, by turns erudite and sardonic. De Botton uses the examples of ten occupations as entry points into associative digressions, but he never gives the workers themselves any voice. While this oversight limits the scope of what he can accomplish in a work that he himself commends to his readers as "reportage," the altar of self-conscious melancholy whereupon the Other is sacrificed proves worthy of contemplation.

And now, a digression of my own.

De Botton notes that he gave a l...more

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Jun 13, 2009 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, unexpectedly-terrific

Damn! This book just confirms my desire to have Alain de Botton as a friend. What a smart, erudite, witty, unassuming mensch this guy is. With a quirky curiosity that helps him take an interesting perspective on almost any subject he tackles. His previous books shows his willingness to take on quite a variety of topics. but, of all his books that I've read thus far, the subject of work seems particularly well-suited to his particular (and prodigious) talent.

The book consists of ten chapters, in...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having enjoyed a few of Botton's other books, I was keen to pick up his latest. The overarching theme of all of his work is an examination of the values of modern life that often go unquestioned.

It makes sense, then, to focus on work, but this book does not live up to the promise of its title. It is probably his least focused. A more appropriate - but still hubristic - title would be 'The Pleasures and Sorrows of Modern Life'. The business surrounding work receives at least as much attention, if...more

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Dec 10, 2009 Lazarus P Badpenny Esq rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, england, ideas, switzerland, commercial-imperialism, 2009

Pressed upon me by the unsuspecting morning mailman (I marvelled at how little did he wonder: that within the contents of my parcel an author could be about to unpack all the futility of his public service endeavours) de Botton's latest fetched up, with it's newly-minted, freshly-printed, straight-from-the-creative-oven aroma and literally spine-breakingly creaking with words.

One subject at a time de Botton is gradually unpicking the stitching of the modern age. On the heels of travel, architect...more Pressed upon me by the unsuspecting morning mailman (I marvelled at how little did he wonder: that within the contents of my parcel an author could be about to unpack all the futility of his public service endeavours) de Botton's latest fetched up, with it's newly-minted, freshly-printed, straight-from-the-creative-oven aroma and literally spine-breakingly creaking with words.

One subject at a time de Botton is gradually unpicking the stitching of the modern age. On the heels of travel, architecture, and our anxieties about status, work makes the perfect topic; after all, all of us use buildings but few of us seem bothered enough to form an opinion about them: not so work. Thanks to bourgeois mores and the need for a stable workforce we have all been conditioned with an expectation of locating happiness in our working lives (along with love inside our marriages).

So like the ship-spotters who improbably manage to find beauty alongside the cargo-docks that line the Thames and with admirable originality de Botton sets out to discover what might be meaningful in our daily toil amongst the artists, the accountants, the aeronautics industry. And logistics: sometimes refrigerated.

Someplace in the Midlands spectres haunting warehouse car parks night-lit by hissing halogen street lamps load 10,000 pre-packed prawn cocktail sandwiches together with out-of-season strawberries onto supermarket lorries. The horror of homogenized lunchbox logistics contains a troubling truth: an acknowledgement of our childish incapacity to defer our gratifications to the seasons.

In a seductively silky patter de Botton occasionally lets slip a statement which, as much as we might all want to nod our heads, comes unbuttressed by any supporting argument, for example: the causal relationship between a disenfranchised working class and binge drinking. Perhaps a more academic study would have found a place to deal with this in depth. In the section devoted to the painter (of the stretched canvas variety rather than a decorator) he seems to disappointingly rely on a Romantic notion of the artist living in poverty and driven by tragedy without considering that many people working in the visual arts may find their jobs mundane on a daily basis.

So nearing the time for clocking-off, appropriately enough as Eliot's 'violet hour' approached, it seemed proper to ask myself: what had I learnt?

Implausibly that in our modern age "Biscuits are nowadays a branch of psychology". Apparently Freud would have had a field-day (or at the very least a field trip: no doubt out to the home of United Biscuits in Hayes: described in deadpan prose as "surprisingly" devoid of charm).

If our present attitudes to work give any indication then we have reached the tepid teatime of our species: an age in which our sweetmeats are advanced by sub-commitees and subject to focus-groups. So much so that their very (insubstantial) pleasures seem in inverse proportion to the efforts of their planning. Yet this state of affairs characterizes so many of our efforts. As humans we add nothing to our previous achievements and we're doing it in triplicate, rubber-stamped by hollow city-suits sat in increasingly impersonal air-conditioned environments. It is with the determined risk aversion of the corporate accountant, the middle-management bureaucrat, and the Health & Safety officer that Man hedges ever closer towards extinction.(less)

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Sep 17, 2009 Ken-ichi rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: learning, snoot, work

I picked this up because I heard the author speak on a couple public radio shows and he seemed interesting. I've also always struggled with the ideas of "work" and "vocation" (i.e. I imagine that if I had the latter, the former wouldn't be so frustrating), so I was actually very excited to read an examination of "the pleasures and sorrows of work." Unfortunately, this book is less an examination and more a set of witty but disorganized notes from a handful of trips to different workplaces. He do...more

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Apr 10, 2009 madeline rated it 5 of 5 stars

While unexpectedly delayed in Heathrow, I used leftover Euros to by this, the latest Artemis Fowl, and some gin.

"In older, more hierarchical societies, an individual's fate had largely been decided by the accidents of birth; the difference between success and failure had not hung on a proficiency with the declaration 'I can move mountains.'
However, in the meritocratic, socially mobile modern world, one's status might now well be determined by one's confidence, imagination and ability to convinc...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Katherine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book had high highs and low lows. The photography is beautiful and is a nice compliment to the book - it has a sense of anonymous observation that seems appropriate to de Botton's tone and to the subject matter, which is the work lives of people, with an eye to the experiences of people in specific professions: aviation, accounting, the manufacture of biscuits, among others. But that makes the subject of the book seem far more concrete than it really is. The author is a philosopher and it s...more

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Jul 12, 2009 max rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library

Botton's lyric and philosophical essays on the modern landscape of productivity is less about individual occupations than it is about the aesthetics of the factory, the office building, and the shipyard. Botton is indifferent to the specific tasks and ideas of his subjects, and instead meditates on what the spaces and organizations of our multinational economies could imply about the legacy of our civilization.

A lofty topic, no doubt, and occasionally burdened by Botton's indulgence in his own m...more Botton's lyric and philosophical essays on the modern landscape of productivity is less about individual occupations than it is about the aesthetics of the factory, the office building, and the shipyard. Botton is indifferent to the specific tasks and ideas of his subjects, and instead meditates on what the spaces and organizations of our multinational economies could imply about the legacy of our civilization.

A lofty topic, no doubt, and occasionally burdened by Botton's indulgence in his own moods and discomforts, which he makes no attempt to disentangle from the themes of the book; in fact, he states at one point the most successful people may very well be those who have the most difficultly becoming comfortable. So we get endearing tales of his insomnia in suburban hotels, his innermost opinions on biscuits, and the fact the photo of third-world president reminds him of his father.

Despite the plentiful chapters dedicated to engineering topics, such as logistics, rocket science, and aeronautics, Botton evinces no interest in these fields beyond superficialities. He gleefully recites facts, figures, dates, and terminologies, without really looking at one of theses fields from within its own rules, history, and major practitioners. What we are left with is a sense of drifting, of a journalist who wanders among the feet of titans without ever looking up at them in the eyes.

The sense of alienation wells up over the course of the book, becoming palpable and sublime, particularly in his chapter on the career councilor, where Botton neatly deconstructs the tautological absurdity of "becoming who you are". And throughout, he supplements his philosophic melancholy with Romanticism, largely in the form of (slightly creepy) studies of women in the workplace who inevitably serve as symbols of unattainable sensuality and the fleeting nature of accomplishment. Yet the narrative's chronic inability to relate intimately to its subjects is neither naive and childlike, nor juvenile and subversive. It is a deliberate and effective literary strategy which constantly draws the reader's imagination inward, as if transfixing on a whirlpool. The artist-as-outsider trope is presented so seductively and so skillfully, at times the book reads like poetry.(less)

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Jul 07, 2009 ann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book and really wanted to give it at least 4 stars, but I couldn't because it was so blatantly mistitled. It's name implies a kind of comprehensive view of work when in fact it is collection of essays. The name also suggests that the book is more trite and boring that it actually is...i almost didn't read it for this reason.

The book is not about work, as much as it is about human productivity, innovation, consumption and the modern psychology that has evolved around these subjects...more

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Jun 08, 2009 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: stuff-i-would-read-again

Swiss-born, UK-based writer Alain de Botton is the son of the late financial pioneer Gilbert de Botton, who left his family a trust fund of more than £200 million. However, it has been reported that de Botton leaves this vast fortune untapped and lives off only what he earns from writing.

It is thus both ironic and suitable that the title of his latest book is The Pleasures And Sorrows Of Work: Only one who does not have to work for a living would have the luxury to ponder how and why people spe...more Swiss-born, UK-based writer Alain de Botton is the son of the late financial pioneer Gilbert de Botton, who left his family a trust fund of more than £200 million. However, it has been reported that de Botton leaves this vast fortune untapped and lives off only what he earns from writing.

It is thus both ironic and suitable that the title of his latest book is The Pleasures And Sorrows Of Work: Only one who does not have to work for a living would have the luxury to ponder how and why people spend their lives doing so.

The latest tome by the pop philosopher opens with an invitation to "imagine a journey across one of the great cities of the modern world." However, it is not London's historical architecture or skyscrapers that interest him, but the cargo ships arriving at its grimy docks.

He says of one ship, The Goddess of The Sea: "The ship's course alone is impressive. Three weeks earlier she set off from Yokohama and since then she has called in at Yokkaichi, Shenzhen, Mumbai, Istanbul, Casablanca and Rotterdam... Her boxes of Moroccan lemons will end up on the shelves of central London shops by evening."

Through his keen observation and lyricism, the writer can make a quotidian occurence appear noble and even awe-inspiring. He examines the staggering accumulation of effort put in to cater to our various needs -- a web of activity which, in today's globalised world, can seem remote, literally unimaginable:

"The origins and travels of our purchases remain matters of indifference, although... a slight dampness at the bottom of a carton, or an obscure code printed along a computer cable, may hint at processes of manufacture and transport nobler and more mysterious, more worthy of wonder and study, than the very goods themselves."

In a bid to expose some of these processes, he has traversed the globe, together with photographer Richard Baker. A particularly eye-opening photo essay sees them follow a tuna fish (or at least, a haul of tuna), from its bloody killing in the hands of a Maldivian fisherman all the way to a Bristol, England dining table, where a precocious eight-year-old muses how the fishes' ghosts will "one day gather together to exact terrible revenge on humanity for shortening their lives and transporting their corpses around the earth for supper".

But even more intricate than the mechanisms of work are the motivations behind it -- from the fisherman's basic need to feed his six children to an impoverished painter's "impractical side... open to making sacrifices for the sake of creating objects that are more graceful and intelligent than we normally manage to be".

One less attractive aspect of de Botton's writing is his unnecessarily unflattering depictions of many of his subjects, even as one sadly recognises the ring of truth amid the bathos. Mockery oozes from his description of the job of design director of a biscuit maker ("answering psychological yearnings with dough"), while the CEO of a top accountancy firm is disparagingly portrayed as a souless drone based on his blandly diplomatic answers to de Botton's questions:

"But perhaps he speaks like this not so much because he wishes to keep secrest as becauae years of circumnavigating the earth, breathing conditioned air and headlining conferences, have holowed out his personality... I feel my boredom turn to pity for someone who one might otherwise imagine had precious little to be pitied for."

The book ends with an Ozymandian moment in the final chapter, titled Aviation. In the Mojave desert, he stumbles upon a junkyard for retired airplanes: "If we could witness the eventual fate of every one of our projects, we would have no choice but to succumb to immediate paralysis."

But despite the pessimism of its ending, this humanistic book helps one recapture a sense of wonder at "what a piece of work is a man" -- a creature who works not just to live, but demands that his work be worth devoting most of his life to.(less)

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Aug 13, 2009 Iris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: space-and-place, visual, philosophy

At the close of each chapter, I considered setting aside this book, on the suspicion that the next chapter couldn't possibly attain the heights of the one I'd just read. But I persevered, increasingly enchanted.

Let Mr. de Botton and his photographer jolt you from your sun-soaked torpor; nay, let him take your hand and engage you in deep thought, stretching your imagination and setting alight your curiosity. There's nothing quite like this writer, nor like this book, in their candor, originality,...more

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Jun 08, 2009 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

_How Proust Can Change Your Life_ and _The Consolations of Philosophy_ were such good books that I was sure _The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work_ would be exactly what I was looking for: a meditation on the things that make any job meaningful, from cashier to CEO. Instead, it was a journal-like exploration of specific jobs, similar to his thoughts in _The Art of Travel_; finding poignancy and beauty in warehouse parks and aviation conferences instead of stepping back from observation, thinking abo...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

In this series of interrelated essays, Alain de Botton focuses on a handful of specific professions — supply chain managers, rocket scientists, painters, accountants, amateur inventors, minor players in the aviation industry — each coalescing throughout the book to create a sketch of modern life spent at work.

Like all of his books, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work is gorgeously written, reinforcing my feeling that Alain de Botton is one of the unmissable living authors to read. For those new to...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Jessie Young rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was not the book I thought it was going to be. I've never read any of Alain de Botton's books, but I read his tweets, and they are always very abstract/philosophical. I expected this book to be the same.

Instead, it is more of a study of supply chains. I'm not sure if that's the correct phrase, but that is how I see it. The most memorable thread in the book, for me, is when he goes from a fishing boat, to the packing plant, the the shipping center, all the way to the grocery store wher...more

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Jan 16, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, non_fiction

I had been very interested in reading this book because of an interview I'd heard with de Botton. In that, he talked particularly about accountancy, and how the accountants he talked to were suspicious of his motives, not at first believing that somebody actually wanted to hear about their infamously dull job. De Botton argued that jobs are only sound boring when you know very little about them; when you get down to the details, most things that people do are actually quite interesting. So what...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Kirsten rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"I left Symon's company [a career counsellor] newly aware of the unthinking cruelty discreetly coiled within the magnanimous bourgeois assurance that everyone can discover happiness through work and love. It isn't that these two entities are invariably incapable of delivering fulfilment, only that they almost never do so. And when an exception is misrepresented as a rule, our individual misfortunes, instead of seeming to us quasi-inevitable aspects of life, will weigh down on us like particular...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Robert rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

...or perhaps a better title may have been the Pleasures and Pleasures of work as there is a distinct lack of dissent in this exploration into a variety of workplaces and types of work. It's all too easy to get seduced by the elegance of de Botton's prose or his erudition, but don't be fooled - this is a gawping outsider's ruminations on what people do for a living and why it has so much meaning.

That's not to say that these ruminations are without merit: The author often returns to the indiffere...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Colin N. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an interesting work. In each chapter De Botton examines a different, often ignored profession in England and muses on the role employment plays in our lives and contemporary society. Some chapters are more descriptive, as De Botton spends time with employees and explains their professions, but often he goes off on digressions and ponders greater questions as to how people may find personal fulfillment and happiness (or more often not) through their jobs, how ideas about the the importanc...more

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Jun 09, 2011 Jeruen Dery rated it 4 of 5 stars

I usually do not pick a book that is non-fiction when reading. In fact, if not for a couple of good friends giving me this book as a present, I would not have known that this book even existed. Anyway, so I got this as a present last year, and finally I decided to take it out of my bookshelf and read it.

Well, surprisingly enough, I liked reading non-fiction. It was reading as escape, and at the same time, reading for the sake of being informed. And upon reading this book, I was informed about a...more I usually do not pick a book that is non-fiction when reading. In fact, if not for a couple of good friends giving me this book as a present, I would not have known that this book even existed. Anyway, so I got this as a present last year, and finally I decided to take it out of my bookshelf and read it.

Well, surprisingly enough, I liked reading non-fiction. It was reading as escape, and at the same time, reading for the sake of being informed. And upon reading this book, I was informed about a lot of things.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work is this ten-chapter essay on how various mundane and ordinary things that we deal with everyday are manufactured, and the amount of effort that multiple people around the world put on the product in order for us consumers to partake in it.

What did I just say? Well, take the chapter on tuna fishing for example. The author follows the steps on how a shopper in a London supermarket gets his tuna steaks. First, he flew all the way from London to the Maldives, where fishing boats scour the Indian Ocean for schools of tuna. He joins the fishing boat, witnesses the men bludgeon the tuna to death, and follows the dead tuna to the processing plant that is still in the Maldives.

A couple of hours later, the tuna, which are already sliced and filleted and packaged, are being loaded into freight trays and are loaded in the belly of an Airbus A340 headed for London. Once in London, he follows the cargo into the delivery trucks, and then the trucks deliver the sliced tuna into the supermarkets, where one shopper has all the chance in the world to buy it and consume it. Just a mere 36 hours from the time the tuna was caught in the open sea to the time the shopper cooked it.

Which kind of made me think when I was in the grocery store the other day. I bought a pineapple, as I wanted to reintroduce fruit to my diet (I digress, but I fondly remember my mother cutting apples and other fruit and dividing them accordingly between the four members of my family, basically ensuring that we have fruit in our diet). I looked at the label, and it said that it was a product of Costa Rica. I wonder how much effort people put in that, from harvesting the pineapple from the farms, to shipping it all the way to the United States and finding its way to a supermarket in Buffalo. For 3.99 USD, I can get a pineapple and enjoy it in the comfort of my own home. It is now sitting on top of my microwave oven waiting to ripen.

Anyway, the rest of the book are other essays on other seemingly ordinary things in life that we rarely think about, such as the way electricity gets transmitted to our own homes, and the way our satellite TV gets a reception from that orbiting metal object. It made me think of the various contributions that several unknown people have given in order to live the life I am living right now. The world is indeed small, and more and more instances of living prove that we cannot live by ourselves anymore without the help of tens of thousands of others. 4 out of 5 stars.(less)

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Dec 02, 2010 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: librarybooks

‘All societies have had work at their centre; ..
.. Ours is the first to suggest that it could be something much more than a punishment or a penance.’

This book is a series of ten essays on the theme of work, with each chapter focussing on a different occupation. The essays are enhanced by accompanying black and white photographs.

The journey starts at a harbour on the Thames where cargo ships arrive and then depart as they transport products to and from the UK. These ships are largely invisible (i...more ‘All societies have had work at their centre; ..
.. Ours is the first to suggest that it could be something much more than a punishment or a penance.’

This book is a series of ten essays on the theme of work, with each chapter focussing on a different occupation. The essays are enhanced by accompanying black and white photographs.

The journey starts at a harbour on the Thames where cargo ships arrive and then depart as they transport products to and from the UK. These ships are largely invisible (in the sense that no-one is looking) to those not directly concerned with their passage. Yet this hidden industry impacts on the lives of many. The next chapter, which looks at work in a logistics park, focuses on the distribution of goods – many of which are perishable – to their destinations on supermarket shelves. And, in a specific example, the chapter traces the journey of a tuna from its origin in the Indian Ocean to a dinner table in Bristol. The logistics of transport and distribution is both blandly anonymous, and deeply personal.

Later chapters explore biscuit manufacture in Belgium, career counselling, aviation and rocket science. De Botton also explores painting, transmission engineering, accountancy and entrepreneurship. And in each of these cases we are mindful of De Botton’s question: ‘When does a job feel meaningful?’ While many people struggle to find satisfying work, others like Stephen Taylor the landscape painter, seem to enjoy what they do. The role of the career counsellor, Robert Symons, is to help people find meaningful work – but what does this really mean if people are unsure about what they would like to do or feel locked into a choice they made as teenagers?

These are very different workplaces, and the expectations (if not the needs) of those who work in them are also different. Or are they? These essays don’t so much contain certainties as they invite the reader to think about possibilities. Many of us are well aware of the importance of the work we and those important to us perform. Many of us are aware that today’s modern society requires an extraordinarily complex set of occupations and divisions of labour to keep it functioning. Few of us know much, in detail, about many of those occupations. And while we don’t need to, sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the variety of ways in which humankind occupy themselves in the form of work.

I enjoyed reading these essays, and it has given me food for thought about the choices we make in relation to work and its meaning in our lives.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith
(less)

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Jan 08, 2013 Jefferson Cloward rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: journalism

One of the best-written books I've ever read. Alain approaches ordinary professions--accounting, engineering, fishing--including the most menial work possible (factory work), with a child's curiosity and a philosopher's depth.

As someone who has complained (almost every single day) at the menial office-work I currently do, his observations about meaning of modern life are entertaining and helpful. Mostly, I've just enjoyed what he's written; but I also feel like I've gained a more clear idea of...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alain de Botton writes about the working world with the attitude of an anthropologist describing exotic culture, only possible for someone who has never actually had any financial need to work. His rococo prose gives otherwise melodramatic ruminations a ridiculous edge and a rather entertaining result. His imaginative and amusing metaphors were my favorite part:

"the ship now advances gingerly, like a proud creature of the wild confined to a zoo enclosure"

"they behave like a man who has fallen de...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

De Botton's book is a work of bold, expansive and reflective insight. The author goes out of his way to follow, and emphasize the reality of, ordinary working people, in ordinary (albeit wide-ranging) professions. The result is a flowing monograph, with an artsy tone, a bit too much self-centred rambling, not quite enough explanation of what the positions purportedly described are actually like, and a fair bit of unexpected memorable and quotable passages. I particularly enjoyed the sections on...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Xing rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

First time I've read de Botton's work (knew of him through a TED video- http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_bot...), and his writing is even more melancholy and bittersweet than I'd expected.

Everything I've reflected on with twinges of regret- irrepressible consumerism, waking hours devoted to trivial occupations at the expense of profoundly society-altering ones, the 'demise of the generalist' and many people's general lack of appreciation for manufacturing plants and industrial architecture- is...more

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Oct 26, 2010 Nina rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was really excited about the topic of this book before I read it, but my goodness what a dull book. There were a few parts where the author had some pretty interesting insights, but those were far outweighed by him passing totally unqualified judgments about the professions he studied/observed and the people that were nice enough to talk to him about their work, and in one case even let him follow him around for a long period time. I don't know how you can pretend to be interested in what some...more

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May 18, 2011 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, non-fiction, 2011-favorites

Brilliant. I have never read this author before, so had no idea what to expect. He is amazing. I had to read him slowly to take in the beautiful writing, pithy descriptions, and witty observations.

On ship spotters: "how fickle museum-goers seem by comparison, with their impatient interest in cafeterias, their susceptibility to gift shops, their readiness to avail themselves of benches."

At a job fair: "It seemed that one might squander one's life chances because of a high-handed disdain for books...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Lorenzo Pulici rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Un’ode all’intelligenza, alla peculiarità, alla bellezza e all’orrore del lavoro moderno”, ispirata alle vedute di città del Settecento che ritraevano l’operosità della gente indaffarata nei propri mestieri. Questo l’intento che Alain de Botton confessa fin dal principio, avvicinandosi con ironia e curiosità alle più disparate professioni – raccontate in 10 capitoli – per individuare il Significato del lavoro nella nostra società.

Interessante osservare come il moderno professionista abbia rinu...more “Un’ode all’intelligenza, alla peculiarità, alla bellezza e all’orrore del lavoro moderno”, ispirata alle vedute di città del Settecento che ritraevano l’operosità della gente indaffarata nei propri mestieri. Questo l’intento che Alain de Botton confessa fin dal principio, avvicinandosi con ironia e curiosità alle più disparate professioni – raccontate in 10 capitoli – per individuare il Significato del lavoro nella nostra società.

Interessante osservare come il moderno professionista abbia rinunciato “ai propri desideri più istintivi al fine di impadronirsi degli austeri dilemmi della chimica e della fisica”. Disciplina e abnegazione, la realtà prosaica del lavoro di squadra che non promette fama personale, sono il tratto distintivo di chi dedica la propria vita all’elettronica satellitare: semplicemente per mettere in orbita il satellite di una neonata emittente giapponese.
D’altronde la divisione del lavoro ha definitivamente frammentato la conoscenza e la professionalità delle persone. Ognuno è artefice del proprio ruolo. Vendere un biscotto al giorno d’oggi significa soddisfare un bisogno psicologico. Ecco l’arduo compito del brand manager che deve indicare la strategia (misura, forma, rivestimento e confezione) per munire il fatidico “biscotto di una personalità dalle sfumature tanto raffinate e appropriate quanto quella della protagonista di un grande romanzo.

E anche se viene da sorridere, bisogna considerare che il motore di ciò altro non è che la sopravvivenza sul mercato. Obiettivo degno di riconoscenza per la vita di migliaia di persone.
È indubbio che la società moderna ci espone “a crisi di senso mentre, davanti al computer sulla nostra scrivania” ci accorgiamo dell’assurdità del nostro agire, pur celebrando la ricchezza che ne deriva.
Lunga vita dunque ai contabili, “abbastanza equilibrati da essere scesi a patti con l’oblio” e sinceramente orgogliosi della propria intelligenza e capacità per padroneggiare un mestiere labirintico basato su procedure che sono necessariamente identiche in tutto il mondo.
Senza per questo dimenticare gli artigiani e tutti coloro che danno forma al mondo con le proprie mani e “possono vedere il lavoro come un’emanazione del proprio essere”, piuttosto che disperso in un processo.
Ma l’aspetto fondamentale del lavoro odierno è probabilmente un tratto intimo e individuale: la convinzione che il lavoro (e l’amore) è fonte della nostra felicità. “Il lavoro è al centro di tutte le società, ma la nostra è la prima a credere che potrebbe rivelarsi qualcosa più di una punizione e una condanna”.(less)

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Dec 02, 2010 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: librarybooks

‘All societies have had work at their centre; ..
.. Ours is the first to suggest that it could be something much more than a punishment or a penance.’

This book is a series of ten essays on the theme of work, with each chapter focussing on a different occupation. The essays are enhanced by accompanying black and white photographs.

The journey starts at a harbour on the Thames where cargo ships arrive and then depart as they transport products to and from the UK. These ships are largely invisible (i...more ‘All societies have had work at their centre; ..
.. Ours is the first to suggest that it could be something much more than a punishment or a penance.’

This book is a series of ten essays on the theme of work, with each chapter focussing on a different occupation. The essays are enhanced by accompanying black and white photographs.

The journey starts at a harbour on the Thames where cargo ships arrive and then depart as they transport products to and from the UK. These ships are largely invisible (in the sense that no-one is looking) to those not directly concerned with their passage. Yet this hidden industry impacts on the lives of many. The next chapter, which looks at work in a logistics park, focuses on the distribution of goods – many of which are perishable – to their destinations on supermarket shelves. And, in a specific example, the chapter traces the journey of a tuna from its origin in the Indian Ocean to a dinner table in Bristol. The logistics of transport and distribution is both blandly anonymous, and deeply personal.

Later chapters explore biscuit manufacture in Belgium, career counselling, aviation and rocket science. De Botton also explores painting, transmission engineering, accountancy and entrepreneurship. And in each of these cases we are mindful of De Botton’s question: ‘When does a job feel meaningful?’ While many people struggle to find satisfying work, others like Stephen Taylor the landscape painter, seem to enjoy what they do. The role of the career counsellor, Robert Symons, is to help people find meaningful work – but what does this really mean if people are unsure about what they would like to do or feel locked into a choice they made as teenagers?

These are very different workplaces, and the expectations (if not the needs) of those who work in them are also different. Or are they? These essays don’t so much contain certainties as they invite the reader to think about possibilities. Many of us are well aware of the importance of the work we and those important to us perform. Many of us are aware that today’s modern society requires an extraordinarily complex set of occupations and divisions of labour to keep it functioning. Few of us know much, in detail, about many of those occupations. And while we don’t need to, sometimes it’s good to be reminded of the variety of ways in which humankind occupy themselves in the form of work.

I enjoyed reading these essays, and it has given me food for thought about the choices we make in relation to work and its meaning in our lives.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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May 27, 2011 Jill rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, library-books, may, nonfiction, nyc-book-club

I found de Botton's voice condescending and arrogant. He refers to women as "symbols" one too many times for me--just because a woman is attractive doesn't mean that she can't be an effective salesperson independently of her looks.

Beyond the misogyny, I doubt de Botton's ever had a "real job" in his life, and his quest to learn more about the world of work seems like a way for him to look down on all of us working drones. I read the book expecting to find out more about the unique aspects of th...more I found de Botton's voice condescending and arrogant. He refers to women as "symbols" one too many times for me--just because a woman is attractive doesn't mean that she can't be an effective salesperson independently of her looks.

Beyond the misogyny, I doubt de Botton's ever had a "real job" in his life, and his quest to learn more about the world of work seems like a way for him to look down on all of us working drones. I read the book expecting to find out more about the unique aspects of these people's lives and careers in rocket science, accounting, painting, electrical engineering--wouldn't it be interesting to know what the daily routines of a rocket scientist are??

However, de Botton fills the book with overblown metaphors about the meaning of life and spends the rocket science chapter simultaneously poking fun at Japanese television and the desolate landscape of a poverty-stricken South American country. He watches a rocket launch in awe, then talks about how society has fallen prey to worshiping the false gods of science and technology over nature...when mere pages later, in the electrical engineering chapter, he goes on a tour of electrical pylons and waxes poetic about the power and beauty of these giant machines, lamenting with his companion the inability of people to see beyond the traditional beauty of the natural landscape. Which one is it, buddy? Nature or science?

Ultimately, de Botton makes his reader (most of whom likely have jobs that aren't "fulfilling" in this sense of purpose he seems to equate with a meaningful life) feel inadequate and depressed, as though spending a life working for a living equates to wasting your talents in a soul-sucking vacuum of misery and stupidity. Too bad we can't all spend our days traveling the country, gaining people's trust and then judging them, write a book about it and consider ourselves some kind of expert.

I read non-fiction to learn new things. This book taught me one thing--never to read another book by de Botton. (less)

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Oct 19, 2010 Spencer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book not that I think everyone would. It was my kind of book though. As inpronouncable as the spelling of his name is for me, I love his tight, insightful writing that takes me on the most mundane of journeys in the most fascinating way. He writes about biscuit manufacturing, shipping cargo, the nuts and bolts of getting a satellite into orbit (the road to getting anime in every Japanese home includes a stop in French Guiana and many people's who's life work accomplished a perfected...more

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