A major book chronicling the history of work, and how our relationship with it has shaped our civilisation.
The work we do brings us meaning, moulds our values, dictates who we spend our time with and determines our future prospects. But this wasn't always the case- for 95% of our species' history, work held a radically different importance.
How, then, did work become the central organisational principle of our societies? How did it transform our bodies, our environments, our views on equality and our sense of time? And why, in a time of material abundance, are we working more than ever before?
Charting three major milestones o the discovery of fire, which liberated our ancestors to develop skills unrelated to the food quest; our transition from foraging to farming; and our migration from fields to the factories of sprawling cities o James Suzman explores the ways work has changed us. Arguing that we stand at the cusp of a similarly transformative point in the history of our relationship with work, he compels us to see how automation and artificial intelligence could be the key to unlocking a more sustainable future.
Work is a stunning appraisal of how humans have kept busy, from stone tools to the stock exchange and into the digital era.
