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Status Anxiety (Paperback)

by Alain de Botton (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Status Anxiety + The Architecture of Happiness + The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin (13 Jan 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141014865
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141014869
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 9,077 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #5 in  Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Social & Developmental Psychology > Social
    #77 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy

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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

26 Reviews
5 star:
 (11)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Confirming and thought-provoking., 13 Sep 2005
By David (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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.
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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Heal Me Mr De Boton, 18 Mar 2004
By Grayson Hove (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Status Anxiety (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.

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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Modern life and human nature, 3 Feb 2005
By ejtooth (Glasgow United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary reference book.
I borrowed this book at the library, then bought it. In the current climate of superficiality it is easy to loose ones bearings, and this book helps you find them again. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Georgina Sands

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks Alain.......
As a previous reviewer commented " something about de Botton's writing captivates me..." I feel exactly the same way. This is writer I return to again and again. Read more
Published 6 months ago by RP123

3.0 out of 5 stars Something missing?
I tend to feel there is something missing from de Botton's work. It is as though it stops - or he stops - just short of where he should. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jonathan Carr

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking and entertaining
Alain De Botton investigates an interesting subject here. According to me, status anxiety is indeed one of the afflictions many of us suffer from (I count myself among those many)... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Didier

3.0 out of 5 stars Good despite de Botton
This book explores an interesting subject and I'd been wanting to read it for a long time. But there's one unfortunate flaw with it: de Botton. Read more
Published 18 months ago by possiblejersey

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, thought provoking, well written.
De Botton investigates anxiety about societal status in this book.

He details five causes:
1. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Alex Ireland

3.0 out of 5 stars Expected more on modern times...
I knew this book would involve the history of status and the various fads thoughout the ages as to what 'high status' represented, however was really hoping for more about modern... Read more
Published 19 months ago by S. R. Gist

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and easy-reading
He's read a book or two, this de Botton chap. The scope and selection of his sources is astounding, and this will provoke you into putting serious thought into your wish list for... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Maclennane

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Satire
Status Anxiety as coined by Alain de Botton, is probably one of the most important aspects of modern western life, as it is propably one of the greatest causes for unhappiness in... Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2007 by Jean Erasmus

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not you...
This is a clever book, more consolations of philosophy, but one grounded in culture and history. His consistent theme (neo-Epicurian? Read more
Published on 25 Jul 2007 by Mr. David Cheshire

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