Alain de Botton is my favourite living philosopher. His insightful books "The Consolations of Philosophy", "How Proust can change your Life", "The Art of Travel", "Status Anxiety", and a couple of others have given me hours of very stimulating reading. He has just released another book, "The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work", which is a celebration and investigation of an activity as central to a good life as love – but which we often find remarkably hard to reflect on properly. As Alain de Botton points out, most of us are still working at jobs chosen for us by our sixteen-year-old selves. It is the perfect guide to the vicious anxieties and enticing hopes thrown up by our journey through the working world.Even though my own journey is over and I have, like most people, not had the luxury of living my life with the foresight of hindsight, it could still be interesting to ponder what might have been and so I've placed an order for the book with my local bookshop.
P.S. Alain is also involved with the School of Life - every community should have one!
