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1 Hawthorne Travel Writing- General


The Art of Travel

by Alain de Botton

The Art of Travel Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs, and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel, few people seem to talk about why we should go and how we can become more fulfilled by doing so. In The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton, author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, explores what the point of travel might be and modestly suggets how we can learn to be a little happier in our travels.

Review:

"One of the very best contemporary travel writers — an artist in the genre." Jan Morris, The New Statesman

Review:

"There's an easy charm to de Botton's writing, pleasure to be had in its intellectual-order and civilised tidiness. This is a beautifully crafted book of bon mots, an elegant and unapologetically popularising blend of European intellectualism and British pragmatism....It is a book that invites you to enjoy its gentle formalism, its sweet flow and the writerly-ness of its reflections." Melanie McGrath, The Evening Standard

Review:

"A jewel of civility, wit and insight; de Botton has produced wondrous essays. An invitation to hyperbole...a volume to give one an expansive sense of wonder." The Baltimore Sun

Review:

"Illuminating...a lovely combination of enthusiasm, sensitivity, a care for the large and small, and the local and the foreign...reading de Botton's book will help a person discover something fabulous in everyday." Chicago Tribune

Review:

"It would be difficult to name a writer as erudite and yet as reader friendly...With a wry, self-deprecating charm, he passes his enthusiasms along in such manner that you can't help being delighted by them." The Seattle Times

Review:

"There is something Proustian in The Art of Travel, in the best sense, for Mr. de Botton is a kind of flaneur, strolling through his subject thoughtfully and offering nuanced truths based on his reading, experience and philosophical temperament." The Wall Street Journal

Review:

"[R]efreshing and profoundly readable....Thanks to de Botton's detailed and thoughtful writing, coupled with his clever curiosity, The Art of Travel has the potential to enrich not only our journeys, but also our lives." The Philadelphia Inquirer

Review:

"[De Botton] relates even the most disappointing experiences with delightful wit, graceful prose and surprising insight..." The Los Angeles Times

Review:

"Wickedly funny...De Botton travels like the rest of us, but he brings with him the amazing erudition, crisp, lovely prose, and entertaining intellect that made How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy such phenomenal successes." The Boston Globe

Review:

"[E]xudes erudition and artfulness....Delightful." Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Review:

"Charmingly and capably convinces us how unaware most of us are as we move about in the world...will leave the reader mentally reaching for a pencil to check off the graceful, witty turns of Mr. de Botton's mind." The Washington Times

Review:

"A thoughtful and anecdote-rich meditation on how trips can alter us in unexpected ways." Elle Magazine

Synopsis:

The author of How Proust Can Change Your Life explores what the point of travel might be and modestly suggets how we can learn to be a little happier in our travels.

Synopsis:

From the bestselling author of How Proust Can Change Your Life comes a dazzling inquiry into our desire to travel and into the ways in which this experience is altered by both anticipation and memory. Illustrations.

About the Author

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Roberta Sheahan, February 5, 2008 (view all comments by Roberta Sheahan)
Concrete philosophy!
It is not a book about vacations, but about why we travel and the baggage we carry inside our heads. A lovely, friendly, thought-provoking companion whether we are on the road or not.
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(6 of 9 readers found this comment helpful)

Product Details

ISBN:
9780375725340
Author:
de Botton, Alain
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Author:
Alain de Botton
Subject:
Essays & Travelogues
Subject:
Movements - Pragmatism
Edition Description:
Vintage Intl
Publication Date:
May 2004
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
272
Dimensions:
7.98x5.20x.56 in. .56 lbs.

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