New Releases by Alain De Botton

“There''s no writer alive like de Botton” (Chicago Tribune), and now this internationally heralded author turns his attention to the insatiable human quest for status—a quest that has less to do with material comfort than love. Anyone who’s ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbor’s Lexus had better read Alain de Botton’s irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master explicator of our civilization and its discontents explores the notion that our pursuit of status is actually a pursuit of love, ranging through Western history and thought from St. Augustine to Andrew Carnegie and Machiavelli to Anthony Robbins. Whether it’s assessing the class-consciousness of Christianity or the convulsions of consumer capitalism, dueling or home-furnishing, Status Anxiety is infallibly entertaining. And when it examines the virtues of informed misanthropy, art appreciation, or walking a lobster on a leash, it is not only wise but helpful.

A wise and utterly original book of travel essays from an international bestselling author that will “give one an expansive sense of wonder” (The Baltimore Sun). Any Baedeker will tell us where we ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell us how and why. With the same intelligence and insouciant charm he brought to How Proust Can Save Your Life, de Botton considers the pleasures of anticipation; the allure of the exotic, and the value of noticing everything from a seascape in Barbados to the takeoffs at Heathrow. Even as de Botton takes the reader along on his own peregrinations, he also cites such distinguished fellow-travelers as Baudelaire, Wordsworth, Van Gogh, the biologist Alexander von Humboldt, and the 18th-century eccentric Xavier de Maistre, who catalogued the wonders of his bedroom. The Art of Travel is a “refreshing and profoundly readable" book (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Don’t leave home without it.

Beschouwingen over de relatie tussen het welbevinden van de mens en zijn omgeving (de architectuur) vanuit kunsthistorisch perspectief.

De Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, continues to be concerned about our happiness, in this case demonstrating lucidly and convincingly that the spaces we inhabit are essential to our well-being. Tracing the way human needs and desires have been served by styles of architecture from Classical to Gothic to Modern, he argues that the stylistic choices of a society can represent both its cherished ideals and qualities it lacks.

In On Seeing and Noticing, Alain de Botton takes everyday concerns such as expressing sadness or being romantic and dispenses advice and observations based on the works of some of history''s greatest writers, artists and thinkers.

Alice croit au Grand Amour, à celui qui dure toujours. A vingt-cinq ans, elle se fait une idée très précise du Prince Charmant. A tel point qu''aucun prétendant n''a jamais ravi son cœur Mais voilà qu''un candidat hors normes se présente. Les débuts d''Eric, jeune banquier courtois et jovial, sont prometteurs. Week-end enchanteurs, discussions enflammées, sexualité enthousiaste, Alice est aux anges. Mais toute relation connaît des hauts et des bas. Selon la terminologie de cette science de la vie de couple qu''invente Alain de Botton, il y a le cycle " escalier " et la période " séchoir rotatif ". Ça commence par les mots doux et les embrassades dans le cou et ça se poursuit par les petites trahisons et les silences cruels. Pour résumer la situation il y a deux catégories l''amour et " l''amour de l''amour ", le tout étant de ne pas confondre.

From the internationally heralded author of How Proust Can Change Your Life comes a remarkable book that presents the wisdom of some of the greatest thinkers of the ages as advice for our day to day struggles. "A fine introduction the world of philosophy." —Newsweek Solace for the broken heart can be found in the words of Schopenhauer. The ancient Greek Epicurus has the wisest, and most affordable, solution to cash flow problems. A remedy for impotence lies in Montaigne. Seneca offers advice upon losing a job. And Nietzsche has shrewd counsel for everything from loneliness to illness. The Consolations of Philosophy is a book as accessibly erudite as it is useful and entertaining.

Répond aux questions inhérentes de tout homme. A chaque problème une solution et un philosophe : Socrate consolera l''impopulaire, Epicure le manque d''argent, Sénèque le frustré, Montaigne celui qui ne se sent à la hauteur de rien, Nietzsche de devoir affronter les difficultés et Schopenhauer les chagrins d''amour.