Alain de Botton

markyedison

Hey there,

Anyone read this guy? and how would you rate him?

Is it actually philosophical areas that he writes about?

I ask that last question simply because his books appear (superficially, I haven't commited to reading him yet but I got Status Anxiety from the library) almost like those pseudo- psychological self help books.

Cheers, Marky

Joe1919

I have read three of his books, Status Anxiety, On Love and the Consolations of Philosophy and have enjoyed all three. I have also browsed through his Architecture of Happiness and his book on Proust but have not read.

All his books are quite different as far as I can see. Status anxiety is about how money and wealth is (percieved wrongly) to be a sort of modern virtue and indicator of a persons worth (status)and this is leading to anxiety.Similar idea to a book named Affluenza which I hope to read shortly.

On Love is really a very nice love story with some interesting and deep thoughts.

I also enjoyed the Consolations of Philosophy which is a relatively light description of his six favorite philosophers. This was also made into a six part (half hour) show and can be seen on utube or somewhere else on net (I forget where)

If your library has his books, I would read. Its hard to come by lightweigh philosophy authors. He beats reading Heidegger or Hegel !

markyedison

Thanks Joe,

Joe1919 wrote: »

If your library has his books, I would read. Its hard to come by lightweigh philosophy authors. He beats reading Heidegger or Hegel !

Tim Robbins

markyedison wrote: »

Thanks Joe,

Have read four of his books.
Status Anxiety, Consolations of Philosophy, Happiness of Architecture, Essays in Love. All very good. They are not academic philosophy, but reference a lot of classical philosophy i.e. he makes a thought provoking point and then substantiates by referencing some famous philosophical idea e.g. "Why doesn't kill me makes me stronger" etc.

They would be far more intellectual than any self help fluff but would be too easy for an academic. They are perfect for anyone from a non philosophical background looking for a window into the paradigm but doesn't want to take PhD in it.

RealEstateKing

It was a nice read, what you might call "pop" philosophy, thus closer to ordinary people's interests than academic's ones, which is no bad thing.

CliffHuxtabel

Im travelling the world at the moment and my sister gave me a copy of 'The Art of Travel' before I left. I find it comforting to read especially when you find yourself bored and unhappy in a distant, exotic country and you cant quite understand why.

On the strength of this I bought 'The Consolations Of Philosophy' a couple of days ago here in Hong Kong. Ive enjoyed it so far. Im no academic but I can already see myself reading more about the works of guys like Montaigne and Schopenhauer. I think thats part of the attraction of De Bottons books: to make philosophy more accessible and interesting to the masses.

Joe1919

Montaigne & Schopenhauer essay are all available free to read somewhere online although I'll have to admit I hate reading online and prefer a book anyday.

The last good philosophy book I read was actually written by a historian and was called "The Pursuit of Happiness" by Darrin McMahon and he discusses people's attempts to find happiness from the early greek philosophers to the modern 'happy pill.' Lots of philosophy included.

JMN

I read his "Consilations of Philosophy" and thought it was very good -

Shield

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