We spend most of our waking lives at work a " in occupations often chosen by our unthinking younger selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what our occupations mean to us. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work is an exploration of the joys and perils of the modern workplace, beautifully evoking what other people wake up to do each day a " and night a " to make the frenzied contemporary world function. With a philosophical eye and his signature combination of wit and wisdom, Alain de Botton leads us on a journey around a deliberately eclectic range of occupations, from rocket science to biscuit manufacture, accountancy to art a " in search of what makes jobs either fulfilling or soul-destroying.Along the way he tries to answer some of the most urgent questions we can ask about work: Why do we do it? What makes it pleasurable? What is its meaning? And why do we daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet? Characteristically lucid, clever and inventive, de Bottona (TM)s a oesong for occupationsa is a celebration and exploration of an aspect of life that is all too often ignored and a book that shines a revealing light on the essential meaning of work in our lives.

英伦才子德波顿风流才子，英俊作家，书生意气，雄姿英发。他通晓英、法、德、西、拉丁数种语言，深得欧洲人文传统之精髓他喜欢读普鲁斯特、蒙田、苏格拉底，同样喜欢旅游、购物和谈情说爱他左手小说，右手散文，在文学、艺术、哲学、评论中自由进退、恣意穿插他的小说思想丰瞻、才情纵横，他的散文和评论又意象丰沛、妙笔生花他，23岁的第一本书就大放异彩他，25岁就入围法国费米娜奖他，27岁完成惊世之作《拥抱似水年华》他，31岁再度以新作《哲学的慰藉》震惊文坛，并成为纽约时报畅销书。他，33岁带着满腹诗书踏上大千世界的旅程，开讲《旅行的艺术》现年35岁的他，正不断向各种领域的创作题材挑战……