Review by Claer Barrett
Over 200 people crowded into the Round Chapel, just down the road from the Pages of Hackney bookshop, to see TV pundit and popular philosopher Alain de Botton talk about his latest book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
At a time when most of us are worried about keeping the job we have, questioning our relationship with the world of work seems slightly cavalier. But Alain engagingly argued that yesteryear’s ‘sorrow’ of work – slogging one’s guts out in a field – has now morphed into the modern ‘pleasure’ of having a career. His chief quest – to solve the mystery of what people actually do for a living.
As the audience enjoyed a free glass of wine (well, we don’t like to work you too hard at Pages events…) Alain divulged that he got the idea for his new book from a children’s book, What do people do all day?, by the children’s author Richard Scarry. After all, an extra-terrestrial watching British TV would assume we all worked in the police force, casualty department or behind a bar. So Alain got himself work placements at a variety of firms, including a biscuit factory, a haulage company, and a top firm of accountants, to investigate. He also shared his experiences of career counsellors and corporate HR departments, who delight in setting up hotlines to report your colleagues’ halitosis.
Of course, the audience wasted no time quizzing the author about his own work before he commenced the book signing. Surprisingly, of all the workers Alain encountered during the course of his research, he rates accountants as being the most satisfied with their lot. And he also expanded on the ‘sorrow’ of having to deal with negative book reviews, having recently told the New York Times’ Caleb Crain; “I will hate you till the day I die and wish you nothing but ill will in every career move you make.”
Alain – you may well be right that book reviewers, as a professions, are “crazies”, but we are nevertheless happy to recommend this title. If you missed the event, a limited number of signed copies are available in the shop at the price of £18.99.
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- Photographs by Lena Ganssmann
