Every day, an unseen form of labour creeps into our lives, stealing precious moments of free time, placing a strain on our schedules, our relationships and our sanity, and recouping neither appreciation nor compensation in return. This labour is admin - the kind of secretarial and managerial work necessary to run a life and a household- from scheduling doctor's appointments to planning a wedding, researching schools, filling out paperwork and paying bills. In The Art of Life Admin, Elizabeth Emens reveals the insidious nature of these tasks that pile up in the margins of our lives, dismissed as trivial or insignificant, unrecognized and unrewarded. In a compelling, and wholly original manner, Emens tackles the problem of admin in all its guises, explores how this form of labour is created, how it affects our lives and how we might avoid, reduce and redistribute admin whenever possible. Drawing on her own personal struggle with admin and the stories of others, Emens offers a valuable new perspective into how we - through individual and societal choices, changes in law and policy, creation of market alternatives and increased awareness in the workplace - can take back control of our time, once and for all. Reading this book should be at the top of your To Do list.

Author Biography

Elizabeth F. Emens is Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. She was educated at Yale and Cambridge, where she earned her PhD. She lives in New York City.