- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books USA; Reprint edition (1 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679779175
- ISBN-13: 978-0679779179
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 1.4 x 20.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 887,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
From the internationally heralded author of How Proust Can Change Your Life comes this remarkable new book that presents the wisdom of some of the greatest thinkers of the ages as advice for our day to day struggles.
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.
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.
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First Sentence
A few years ago, during a bitter New York winter, with an afternoon to spare before catching a flight to London, I found myself in a deserted gallery on the upper level of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
A few years ago, during a bitter New York winter, with an afternoon to spare before catching a flight to London, I found myself in a deserted gallery on the upper level of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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119 reviews
120 of 129 people found the following review helpful
Misunderstood by some, but a truly profound book
19 May 2000
Format:Hardcover
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.
66 of 70 people found the following review helpful
Come ye disconsolate!
22 Jun 2000
Format:Hardcover
Somehow, I managed to get through high school and college without ever seriously reading any of the great Western philosophers. The Consolations of Philosophy is an excellent introduction and quick (I mean,QUICK) overview of six of these men. The deadwhitemales discussed are Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. The discussion is lively and thought-provoking--and amusingly illustrated. This book would serve as an excellent secondary text for an introduction to philosophy course. Even the most jaded undergraduate will want to learn more about the teachings of the philosophers covered. I found the chapters on Seneca ("Consolation for Frustration"), Montaigne ("Consolation for Inadequacy"), and Nietzsche ("Consolation for Difficulties") the most engaging and challenging. De Botton's writing and thinking are fresh and remind me, for some reason, of the cultural essays of Susan Bordo (and Camille Paglia in her more reasonable moments).
78 of 85 people found the following review helpful
Where Self Help and Philosophy Meet
24 April 2001
Format:Paperback
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.
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