Alain De Botton
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This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us, about whether we're judged a success or a failure. With the help of philosophers, artists, and writers, Alain de Botton examines the origins of status anxiety before revealing ingenious ways in which people have been able to overcome their worries in the search for happiness. The result is a book that isn't just highly entertaining...
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THE SCHOOL OF LIFE IS DEDICATED TO EXPLORING LIFE'S BIG QUESTIONS IN HIGHLY-PORTABLE PAPERBACKS, FEATURING FRENCH FLAPS AND DECKLE EDGES, THAT THE NEW YORK TIMES CALLS "DAMNABLY CUTE." WE DON'T HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS, BUT WE WILL DIRECT YOU TOWARDS A VARIETY OF USEFUL IDEAS THAT ARE GUARANTEED TO STIMULATE, PROVOKE, AND CONSOLE. We don't think too much about sex; we're merely thinking about it in the wrong way. So asserts Alain de Botton in this rigorous...
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The Architecture of Happiness is a dazzling journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations. One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet, a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain...
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Geldmangel? Liebeskummer? Frustriert? Ihnen kann geholfen werden. An sechs typischen Krisen aus dem täglichen Leben führt Alain de Botton geistreich und amüsant vor, wie jedermann Trost, Rat und Ansporn in der Philosophie findet. In essayistischen Porträts geht er auf eine Reise durch 2400 Jahre abendländische Philosophiegeschichte und zeigt anhand Leben und Werk von Sokrates, Epikur, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer und Nietzsche wie ein etwas...
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A thought-provoking essay that teaches us that confidence is not a gift from the gods, but a skill that can be learned.
We spend vast amounts of time acquiring confidence in narrow technical fields: quadratic equations or bioengineering, economics or pole vaulting. But we overlook the primordial need to acquire a more free ranging variety of confidence-one that can serve us across a range of tasks: speaking to strangers at parties, asking someone...
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Progress. It is one of the animating concepts of the modern era. From the Enlightenment onwards, the West has had an enduring belief that through the evolution of institutions, innovations, and ideas, the human condition is improving. This process is supposedly accelerating as new technologies, individual freedoms, and the spread of global norms empower individuals and societies around the world. But is progress inevitable? Its critics argue that...