Alain de Botton, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Penguin

Alain de Botton is one of the most prominent living authors in the United Kingdom, writing best-selling books that, as he puts it, 'tackle questions of everyday life from a philosophical point of view'. He is also involved in making a number of TV documentaries accompanying his books.

Penguin Books is a British publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Lane's idea was to provide quality writing cheaply, for the same price as a pack of cigarettes. He also wanted them to be sold not only in bookshops but in train stations, general stores and corner shops. Its most emblematic products are its paperbacks. The first Penguin paperbacks were published in 1935, but at first only as an imprint of Bodley Head with the books originally distributed from a church crypt.