The Consolations of Philosophy

by Alain de Botton

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679442766
• ISBN13: 9780679442769
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Sometimes one has to be ready for a book before it is ready to be read

"In 1997, a colleague, recommended The Consolations of Philosophy. I have just got round to reading it. Some 12 years later! Since then, the colleague has become a cherished friend, and I have learnt to trust his recommendations and easy natured wisdom. And Consolations certainly has much wisdom to impart. Perhaps sometimes, one has to be ready for a book before it is ready to be read."

Ease into a new way of thinking about your problems

Alain de Botton brings philosophy to a readable level. Rather than a dry discussion on the merits or otherwise of the thoughts of "long dead white men" he looks at situations we all face day to day - inadequacy, suffering, pain, and love - and opens up a new way to look at these situations. The thing that made me keep reading, and the reason I recommend it to all my friends, is that Alain de Botton passes no judgement. He does not say "this is the way you must do things, this is the way you must think", rather he is simply presenting you with different perspectives on the same problems. It is actually a consolation to know that firstly, our problems are shared across all human civilisation, and secondly, there is no problem in not having all the answers. You come away from the book realising that all you need sometimes is a different perspective on your problems. You don't have to agree with his opinions, but from the questions posed and the way he's presented these dead white guys' philosophies, I think you will end up better able to deal with all the day-to-day things. I think this is very much a case of teaching us to fish rather than providing us with a ready cooked 3-course meal, while remaining very readable and even quite consoling at times.

Where Self Help and Philosophy Meet

Having read Alain de Botton's highly amusing Proust book, I expected no less from CONSOLATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY; and I was not disappointed. Five philosophers (Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche) and one giant of literature (Montaigne) are enlisted to help us deal with such universal problems as popularity, sexual rejection, poverty, and inadequacy. Curiously, none of these philosophers (with the possible exception of Epicurus) led happy lives. Seneca was ordered by his pupil Nero to commit suicide; Montaigne was tortured to the point of distraction by kidney stones; and Nietzsche went mad. De Botton, however, shows how each one exhibited great common sense on at least one area in their lives. The upshot of all this advice is to consider that others have it worse, buck up, and forge ahead despite all the obstacles. Not quite what Buddha discovered beneath the Bodhi Tree, but in this era of chicken soup for whatever ails you, it's a step up. Unlike most self-help books, this one instead of bloating two paragraphs into a 100,000-word book, leaves you hungry for more. Particularly useful are the notes in back, directing the reader to the sources and presumably further enlightenment. I was a little put out that de Botton left out all mention of Boethius, whose CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY was one of the most influential books of the last 1,500 years and is still a very worthy book for accomplishing the same goals. As a skeptic, I was also disappointed that Lucian of Samosata was omitted. Oh, well, you can't criticise a book for what it was not. De Botton's selection is highly individual and, what is more, it works.

Real chicken soup for the needy soul

Philosophers used to want to talk to real people. Nowadays, they just mumble to their colleagues, stab each other in the back in the pages of academic journals, and basically disgrace themselves in the eyes of the tradition of philosophy begun by Socrates. But not Alain de Botton. He really takes seriously the idea that philosophers are capable of conceiving of life and experience in new ways that console us - make us feel less alone and persecuted. This might sound silly, but this book truly does console. It is also wonderfully informative and witty. I read a review of this book in the New York Times that actually encouraged me to read it - though it was a terrible review. The reviewer was so sniffy and arrogant, I thought, 'I'm going to see if he's wrong.' Well, he certainly is. This is a small masterpiece. It's not a great great book - but it's what will be called a minor classic, a book that will be cherished and loved and passed around among friends. Incidentally, it's also got a great cover by that masterful Portland cartoonist, John Calahan

Misunderstood by some, but a truly profound book

The easiest accusation one can make is to say that this book is 'shallow.' But really what de Botton is doing is extremely clever. Making it seem as though he is simply recording what certain great philosophers saying, he is actually serving up a very dazzling interpretation of them. It is made to look so easy that one might say 'This is just philosophy for dummies.' But it's really not. To summarize and elucidate the philosophy of, for example, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche is an incredible achievement. When de Button wrote his book on Proust, lots of people said, 'He's just dumming down the great master.' It wasn't true of that book, and now in this book, it similarly isn't true that he is dumming anything down. The last reviewer from New York really made me mad. If The Consolations of Philosophy is pretentious, then I'm Socrates. Buy it, read it, and discover for yourself just what a joy this book is.