Status Anxiety - Softcover

De Botton, Alain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014301644X ISBN 13: 9780143016441

Publisher: Penguin Canada, 2005

Synopsis

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 before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learned to overcome their worries in their search for happiness.

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

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

“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, best-selling author of The Consolations of Philosophy and The Art of Travel, asks—with lucidity and charm—where our worries about 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 been able to overcome their worries in the search for happiness. We learn about sandal-less philosophers and topless bohemians, about the benefits of putting skulls on our sideboards, and about looking at ancient ruins.

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

About the Author:

Alain de Botton is the author of three previous works of fiction and three of nonfiction, including The Art of Travel, The Consolations of Philosophy, and How Proust Can Change Your Life (all available in paperback from Vintage Books). He lives in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Canada
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 014301644X
• ISBN 13: 9780143016441
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320