Status Anxiety
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Product Description
Product Description
We all worry about what others think of us. We all long to succeed and fear failure. We all suffer - to a greater or lesser degree, usually privately and with embarrassment - from status anxiety.
For the first time, Alain de Botton gives a name to this universal condition and sets out to investigate both its origins and possible solutions. He looks at history, philosophy, economics, art and politics - and reveals the many ingenious ways that great minds have overcome their worries. The result is a book that is not only entertaining and thought-provoking - but genuinely wise and helpful as well.
About the Author
Alain de Botton was born in 1969. He is the author of Essays in Love, The Romantic Movement, Kiss and Tell, How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy and The Art of Travel. He lives in London.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having loved Alain De Botton's previous books I approached Satatus Anxiety with some trepidation. Would it live up to it's author's own standards. The answer is a resounding yes. Status Anxiety is as well researched and as witty book as you could read.
In fact Alain de Botton might be the greatest labour saving device since the personal computer. He's read all the books we know we should have, and with a cheeky anecdotal style he makes sense of our lives while leaving the sense of his sources un-diminished. In The Consolations of Philosophy, he digested and explained the great philosophers, giving us an executive summary for coping with our jealousies and the anxiety of being human. Status Anxiety, finds De Botton analysing the ox-coveting curtain-twitcher in all of us. Ours is an age where we spend it like Beckham even if we can't quite earn it, Status Anxiety goes some way to revealing why. Alain de Botton, every home should have one.
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a feel-good book for anyone who thinks a bit about society and their place in it. Alain de Boton is like an incredibly well-read and eloquent participant in a discussion taking place in your head, confirming and developing so many thoughts and ideas that you've always had but are unlikely to have had the chance to ever analyse properly.
Importantly, the book steers clear of direct instruction on how you should respond to society, and for me it was the regularly evoked chains of thought that provided the greatest moments of realisation and satisfaction.
Taken at face value and read quickly, this book would still be a very interesting read, but it becomes a truly excellent one when used as an informed launch-pad for your own judgements, thoughts and ideas.
Importantly, the book steers clear of direct instruction on how you should respond to society, and for me it was the regularly evoked chains of thought that provided the greatest moments of realisation and satisfaction.
Taken at face value and read quickly, this book would still be a very interesting read, but it becomes a truly excellent one when used as an informed launch-pad for your own judgements, thoughts and ideas.
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is divided into two sections: the first defining the problem the second possible solutions
The first section is a compelling analysis of the human condition and how our (modern) world plays upon our predisposition and fears. The second section, while equally well reasoned took me to where I could see dry land but left me stranded on a sand bar. It offers no new solutions but only the consolations of philosophy politics religion or non-conformity. In short de Botton concedes that we are captive to our often punishing assessment of ourselves as handed to us by society and faced with that, perhaps the best we can do is to change the way we consider that assessment - to change one value system for another more humane.
Having said that, these solutions are solutions and certainly well worth considering, however I suspect that the type of person who buys this book may have covered much of this ground already.
I don't wish to appear negative about a book that I valued and will certainly recommend and it is perhaps to his credit as a scholar, that he is honest enough not to peddle any simple solutions - but - part of me wished he had sold me something and not just set out the stall.
I found the book clear well reasoned well written and understandable. It is also a good read - this was a book that I read in a couple of days. It is obvious that Alain de Botton has an enviable understanding of his subject and it was a pleasure for a lazy reader to be guided through such a wide tapestry of thinkers - I have in the past tried to read some of these authors but have been defeated by their verbiage. All in all a very good read and a valuable tool to make you assess the way you live your life and react to the world and other people
The first section is a compelling analysis of the human condition and how our (modern) world plays upon our predisposition and fears. The second section, while equally well reasoned took me to where I could see dry land but left me stranded on a sand bar. It offers no new solutions but only the consolations of philosophy politics religion or non-conformity. In short de Botton concedes that we are captive to our often punishing assessment of ourselves as handed to us by society and faced with that, perhaps the best we can do is to change the way we consider that assessment - to change one value system for another more humane.
Having said that, these solutions are solutions and certainly well worth considering, however I suspect that the type of person who buys this book may have covered much of this ground already.
I don't wish to appear negative about a book that I valued and will certainly recommend and it is perhaps to his credit as a scholar, that he is honest enough not to peddle any simple solutions - but - part of me wished he had sold me something and not just set out the stall.
I found the book clear well reasoned well written and understandable. It is also a good read - this was a book that I read in a couple of days. It is obvious that Alain de Botton has an enviable understanding of his subject and it was a pleasure for a lazy reader to be guided through such a wide tapestry of thinkers - I have in the past tried to read some of these authors but have been defeated by their verbiage. All in all a very good read and a valuable tool to make you assess the way you live your life and react to the world and other people
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
My Viewpoint
I needed this book to read as part of a of a Group, and found it an enlightening overview of history social history, clearly put, and well illustrated.
Published 2 months ago by Owen Walter
Kindle Edition
The Kindle Edition contains no table of contents and some pictures are missing when comparing it to the paper edition. Read more
Published 13 months ago by roblondon
unexpectedly engaging
Having seen Alain de Botton in the media, I had formed the opinion that his writing would be a bit too pompous for my taste, but in this I have been proven wrong. Read more
Published 14 months ago by moby-dick
Great book
I'm interested in the science of happiness. De Botton's book is interesting because it covers the idea of modern happiness or unhappiness from a philosophical and historical angle. Read more
Published 17 months ago by dilaudid
No new ideas, but some elegant expression of old ones
Rambles on a bit towards the end about Dadaism, etc - felt a bit like he was trying to make the page count he'd agreed to. Bits of it are very well written - succint and clear. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Jezza
An enjoyable book, even if it does consist of statements of the...
The author examines the thesis that much of the modern world is too concerned with status from several perpectives: historical, religious, philosophical and so on, and suggests... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Phil O'Sofa
Lack of objective
The book is a great repetition of historical events that you read about in school however the writer fails to mention some of the most important factors of prosperity in the... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Zeituni Baraka
An great feel good book, except the bohemia section
This is probably the ultimate feel good book giving you confirmation of what you thought was wrong with the world, the world over and what makes people unhappy. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mike Swann
An unexpected pleasure
I admit that when I first heard of Status Anxiety I thought it was an oddly titled book about shallow people who were more interested in keeping up with the Jones than real life. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by Finger on the button
Why do we cry at the front seat of a BMW?
I truly expected a bit deeper book with more surprises when I got Alain de Botton's book "Status Anxiety" in my hands. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2010 by Wallenius Jaakko
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