Work

First, this:

What is the best thing about work?

Figuring out how the mind works.

Then, this:

Our nearest relatives, the chimpanzees, will engage in barter. Meat is a scarce and valuable commodity, and successful hunters will trade bits of their catch to earn favor with higher-ranked members of the troop, for grooming and even for sex--it really is the world's oldest profession.

Both excerpts are from this Forbes special on Work. The first is a quickie interview with Steven Pinker on his first job (Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard) and the second is a wonderful article by P.Z. Myers (of Pharyngula fame) titled Non-human work. The Forbes special has a whole bunch more than these two, of course.

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While on work, do take a look at this column by Austan Goolsbee, discussing a curious link between your career earnings and the economic conditions in the year of your graduation (and joining the workforce) [via Alex Tabarrok].