“Prior to the Industrial Age, most people worked to complete specific tasks: bring in the harvest, put up the barn, stitch a quilt,” writes Headlee. When these tasks were complete, so was the day’s work. As a result, prior to around 1800, many people “actually had time to sit around a fire and listen to all 3,182 lines of an epic poem like Beowulf.” (“Back then,” she says, “that was considered a fun night with the family.”)
