He Can Work It Out

For the last few days, the news has been filled with details of the just plain lousy unemployment rate, which is the highest it's been in a generation. That swollen number is all the more reason to be grateful for public libraries, which these days typically have computers as well as lots of books, so you can read an endless amount (including Tonic!) to your heart's content for a grand total of $0.

In New York — and many other cities, too — the public library is also a place for lessons, seminars and book readings. Just this past Monday, the Big Apple's majestic main branch on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street hosted a conversation with British author Alain de Botton. The topic? Appropriately enough, it's work.

De Botton is a philosopher, but don't let that scare you. His books aren't highfalutin' or impossible to understand. (In England, he's basically the rock star of philosophers, with several TV adaptations of his books.) His work simply urges us all to really think about different parts of everyday life, like traveling, architecture and people's obsession with status.

His newest release, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, looks at the dynamics of a handful of careers, as well as what motivates us all to work in general (other than each week's paycheck, of course ... )  Reading about jobs, like working in a British cookie factory, for example, will probably make you enjoy your own gig a whole lot more ... and maybe even go on a no-cookie diet.

Unlike so much that's available at the library, there was actually an admission charge ($25) for Monday's conversation ... but that money helps support the New York Public Library and its many free programs. Even better: The event started at 7 p.m. for those who were actually working.