A good beginners' philosophy book
3 stars
The Consolations Of Philosophy is the third of the three Alain De Botton books I borrowed this year. It is more similar in style to The Art Of Travel than Status Anxiety and is the earliest book of the trio which I thought did show in the writing and, sometimes, in the choice of illustrations. Black and white photography is often rendered indistinctly on paperback pages and I felt this was the case here, plus I didn't think we needed quite so many obvious illustrations. When De Botton mentions babies in the text, we are shown a photo of a baby. A mention of people meeting in a cafe is illustrated with a photo of a cafe. Some of the pictures are interesting - two sketches illustrating the drastic improvements in an artist's drawing style for example - but many seemed simply to be filler. De Botton discusses a Nietzschean …
The Consolations Of Philosophy is the third of the three Alain De Botton books I borrowed this year. It is more similar in style to The Art Of Travel than Status Anxiety and is the earliest book of the trio which I thought did show in the writing and, sometimes, in the choice of illustrations. Black and white photography is often rendered indistinctly on paperback pages and I felt this was the case here, plus I didn't think we needed quite so many obvious illustrations. When De Botton mentions babies in the text, we are shown a photo of a baby. A mention of people meeting in a cafe is illustrated with a photo of a cafe. Some of the pictures are interesting - two sketches illustrating the drastic improvements in an artist's drawing style for example - but many seemed simply to be filler. De Botton discusses a Nietzschean theory concerning the level of continuous work needed over years in order to significantly improve one's creative output and I appreciated spotting this exactly in De Botton's style from The Consolations Of Philosophy in 2000 to Status Anxiety in 2004!
De Botton quotes from six eminent philosophers, each one chosen to foil a particular issue beginning with Socrates' words consoling us for feeling ourselves disliked. He weaves in details of the philosophers' lives which I liked as this gave me some understanding of how their theories might have been inspired. There was lots I didn't know - such as Epicurus actually promoting a frugal diet in his teachings, not the gourmet dining with which his name has now become synonymous. I did feel that sometimes the quotes were tenuously chosen though and obviously cherry-picked to fit each of De Botton's six themes. I think The Consolations Of Philosophy is a good 'beginner' book and I will be happy if I can remember a quarter of the ideas long-term! De Botton's writing is generally accessible - to this layperson at least - and I am encouraged to delve further into discovering philosophical ideas and thoughts.
