Alain de Botton, born in Zurich, Switzerland on December 20 1969, is a London-based writer. He won a double starred first in history at Cambridge University. His books include Essays in Love (entitled On Love in the US) (1993), The Romantic Movement (1994), Kiss and Tell (1995), How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997, UK edition ISBN 0-330-35491-4), The Art of Travel (2002), and Status Anxiety (2004). The Consolations of Philosophy (published in 2000) was also made into a television series.

The Consolations of Philosophy

The title is a reference to Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, in which philosophy appears as an allegorical figure to Boethius to offer him consolation before he faces his impending execution. In The Consolations of Philosophy Alain attempts to show how the teachings of Philosophers such as Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca the Younger, Nietzsche, Montaigne, and Schopenhauer can be applied to everyday woes such as unpopularity, feelings of inadequacy, to financial worries, having a broken heart and the general problem of suffering. The book has been both praised and criticised for its reductionist approach.

External links

• Alain de Botton
• Review of The Consolations of Philosophy
• Another review of the Consolations of Philosophy
• Archived web chat with de Botton conducted by Channel 4.