The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton

The Moment: Your life has officially become Office Space

by Holly Otterbein

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Published: Jun 10, 2009

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The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
by Alain de Botton

At points, Alain de Botton seems as new to the modern economy as a spoiled 16-year-old. In his nonfiction book chronicling 10 different industries, from rocket science to biscuit manufacturing, he marvels at specialization, industrialization and bureaucracy as if he's never worked at a lowly, spirit-melting job before. And as the comfy, stimulated author of many think-piece books, including How Proust Can Change Your Life, maybe he hasn't.

But perhaps it's a good thing he's clueless. Familiarity with shit precedes indifference toward it, and insight is rarely born out of indifference. De Botton, however, is full of aha moments: While in a fish processing plant, he remarks that technology — by transforming stacks and stacks of papers into neat, tucked-away computer documents — has made us blind to bureaucracy and its pitfalls. Walk through a developing country, where paperwork is still ubiquitous, and you're suddenly reminded of the cost of rules and record-keeping.

His main insight, though, is that jobs in general — even ones as seemingly sexy as rocket science — suck. And most people aren't rocket scientists. Despite our industrial and digital revolutions, most people are makers of dreadfully commonplace things like shampoo or condoms, oven gloves or lingerie. When de Botton wonders out loud why this is to Renae, an unfortunate woman who's writing a paper on the brand performance of a biscuit company, she leaves the room. It's no surprise — no one likes to be told, in so many words, that her job sucks.

It's darkly humorous that it's de Botton's job to tell Renae, and us, that it does anyway. Thankfully, he does so with grace, allowing us to remember that — even in America, where our identity is wholly fused to our career — it's OK to hate work sometimes. And doesn't it feel good to admit the truth?

Pantheon, 326 pp., $26, June 2

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