Status Anxiety: Amazon.co.uk: Alain de Botton: Books

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Product Description

Product Description
For this study, de Botton asks where our worries about status come from and what, if anything, we can do to reduce them. He looks at how people have coped with these anxieties in the past with a range of unexpected examples and entertaining anecdotes.

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
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4.0 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)

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26 of 26 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 review is from: Status Anxiety (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.

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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A superficial but entertaining skim, 9 Jan 2006

By	Moonymoon "moonymoon" (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Status Anxiety (Paperback)

I enjoyed the TV programme which preceded this book, it was nice to see alternative ideas to the depressing aggressive consumerism which domniates TV presented. The book would serve as a very good introduction to thinking about these alternative ideas, but it is a superficial skim through. It is written in a lively, tongue-in-cheek style which is what gets Alain de Botton comissioned in the first place, but if you want something meatier, go to some of the many writers and artists he quotes liberally from.

The book only deals with status attached to wealth and materialism and ignores the complexities of social status. In the chapter on bohemia, for example, he doesn't address the way that being 'cultured' and part of an artistic community is often itself used as a badge of status to mark superiority. Artists are often perceived as having, or certainly claim to have, a greater sensitivity and insight to the common herd. As an academic I'm sure he knows how many people acquire knowledge and ideas as trophies to lord it over the less well educated. He doesn't explore the hierarchies inherent in these alternative communities, and the ways in which they include and exclude.

It is deceptively easy to make philosophy accessible, and Alain de Botton does an admirable job. This book is great if you are looking for an introduction, but go elsewhere if these ideas are not new to you. Good selection of pictures too - especially the cartoons.

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37 of 39 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

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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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 2 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 2 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 3 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 13 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 14 months ago by happyreviewer

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 14 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 14 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 15 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 20 months ago 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 24 months ago by Mr. David Cheshire

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	61% buy the item featured on this page: Status Anxiety 4.0 out of 5 stars (26)
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