Throughout history, epidemics have repeatedly posed a single, provocative question: ‘Organise or die – what will you do?’ This book explores how different societies have answered. In ten concise, good-humoured chapters, the philosopher Anders Fogh Jensen tells the story of epidemics and control from the 13th century to the present. The book places the coronavirus pandemic into a historical perspective. It illuminates a range of strategies used to combat epidemics and the thinking behind them, and shows how epidemics inspire and act as catalysts for the brave new normal. (Published in Danish in 2020, published in English in 2021)
The book delves into the concept of work and answers the question of why our time spent at work have lost a lot of meaning. This has to do with the creation of pointless tasks, excessive supervision and management. Work as such is a necessary part of the human reality, but in the 21st century we have distorted it and have thereby lost the meaning of what work is: something that is of real use and will change the world for the better, and will help us develop and invent the creative solutions that has helped the human species in the past, but which has stagnated over the last hundred years, because administration, supervision and management have overshadowed research, development and exploration. (Published in Danish in 2018, published in English in 2021)
Today work, leisure, love, health, schooling and self-development seem to be flowing together in one big, chaotic mess. But this book explains that this mess has its own order: the project. We are dealing with time, space and each other in new ways - marked by temporariness, uncertainty, ad hoc solutions, overbookings, cancellations and the absence of clear expectations to the individual. The temporary 'yes' dominates our daily lives as the passage from one thing to another has become a chronic condition. The logic of the project can be found e.g. in dancing, in administration, in health politics, in football, in our love lives, in corporate culture and in what used to be referred to as private life. (Published in Danish in 2009, published in English in 2012)
