When he was fourteen, his father sent him to study at the Prague yeshivah, after exacting a promise from him "that he would not mingle with the Moderns" who were then gradually coming into prominence through the influence of Moses Mendelssohn.
He was then offered a position as rabbi in Vilna, but declined, earning his livelihood as a merchant (frequenting the fairs of Leipzig and Königsberg - which are referred to in his writings).
Chayei Adam (Hebrew: חיי אדם, "The Life of Man"[1]) deals with the laws discussed in the Orach Chayim section of the Shulchan Aruch.
In this work, Danzig collected and critically sifted the Acharonic material, in the field of halakha written in the more than two and a half centuries since the appearance of the Shulchan Aruch.
Chayei Adam was intended primarily "for the cultured layman", as opposed to rabbinic scholars, and the work is thus presented in a readily accessible form.
Chochmat Adam was written in consultation with two of the greatest Torah scholars of the time - Chaim Volozhin and Yaakov of Lisa.