The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

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......more

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 e......more

I spotted this book among a display at my local library, one of those monthly themed-topic selections the library staff picks out. What We're Reading This Month or If You Liked That, You'll Like This, or something similar. As I was going through a bit of an existential crisis career-wise at the time......more

De Botton applies his self-consciously philosophical style to exploring the how and why of a cross-section of professions across the Western world. Relying upon a mix of happenstance encounters and his own personal agenda , de Botton pursues his stated quest to attempt to create: "a hymn to the intel......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 hi......more