a fantastic book

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Every adult life could be said to be defined by two great love stories. The first - the story of our quest for sexual love - is well known and well-charted. The second - the story of our quest for love from the world - is a more secret and shameful tale. And yet this second love story is no less intense than the first.

This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety.

Alain de Botton, bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy and The Art of Travel, asks - with lucidity and charm - where worries about our status come from and what if anything we can do to surmount them. With the help of philosophers, artists and writers, he examines the origins of status anxiety (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the success of our friends), before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness. We learn about sandal-less philosophers and topless bohemians, about the benefits of putting skulls on our sideboards and of looking at ruins.

The result is a book that isn't just highly entertaining and
thought-provoking, but also genuinely wise and helpful too.

A new three part documentary based on the book will be shown starting March 6th, 7pm on Channel 4 in the UK and starting June 20th, 9.30pm on the ABC in Australia. Click to see clips.

― traveler, Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

It would be helpful, when posting an ad, to at least provide the title of the book you're pushing.

― otto, Saturday, 6 March 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

how about, "No Shirt, No Shoes: No Worries." hey, this is kind of like the reverse of the thread for summarizing the plot!

― slow learner (slow learner), Saturday, 6 March 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

"Status Anxiety" is the title, buried in the body of the post. I look forward to the book despite the spammy ad clumsily designed as a thread starter, which was apparently c and p'ed directly from Botton's website.

http://www.alaindebotton.com/status.htm

I've given "The Art of Travel" as a gift a number of times. It's a very attractive book both inside and out. I own, but have not yet read, "The Consolations of Philosophy."

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Saturday, 6 March 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I started watching the television tie-in to this book tonight and had to switch it off because it was so lame.

― All Bunged Up. (Jake Proudlock), Saturday, 6 March 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh dear- not a good sign. What were they doing/saying that provoked the "that's lame" reaction?

― Rabin the Cat (Rabin the Cat), Saturday, 6 March 2004 23:05 (twenty-one years ago)

the show was pretty great for the first hour or so i thought and only slightly lame after that.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 8 March 2004 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

This is like being in that Jim Munroe novel where you have to pay a monthly fee to keep ads from basically popping up on your retinas -- ha ha, come to think of it, now Munroe's IS a really great book about status anxiety. It's called Everyone in Silico.

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 00:04 (twenty-one years ago)

The Onion did a bit recently on a new drug that helps to alleviate Status Anxiety; it's called "Bacardi."

I don't know, I might be interesting to take a look at the book but it sounds a little like self-help to me. I'll research it more before passing my own judgement, though.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.