Review 253: Office

Office by Sheila Liming
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Written just before the pandemic which has also changed the office. Unfortunate timing, as would be interesting to have thoughts on that aspect. Although the last chapters do talk about the end of the office, the pandemic just helped that along.

This is one of the better entries in Bloomsbury Academic’s Object Lessons series. The book is well organized and provides in-depth history and curiosities that are perfect for this type of series of books. Author Liming touches briefly on literature and film/television references.

We see the full cycle of the office here, with the early beginning and the looming sense of the end of the office. Although the book was written just before the pandemic, which sent most of the office workers to work from home, upending many assumptions of what a worker or manager could accomplish when not all in the same building. It is unfortunate timing and would be enlightening if Liming provided thoughts on this latest change in offices. Perhaps there will be an addendum or additional chapter added at some future date. Office part two.

Thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.