Synopses & Reviews
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
"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
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"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
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"[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
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"[De Botton] relates even the most disappointing experiences with delightful wit, graceful prose and surprising insight..." The Los Angeles Times
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"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
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"[E]xudes erudition and artfulness....Delightful." Minneapolis Star-Tribune
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"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
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"A thoughtful and anecdote-rich meditation on how trips can alter us in unexpected ways." Elle Magazine
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
Alain de Botton is the author of On Love, The Romantic Movement, Kiss and Tell, How Proust Can Change Your Life, and The Consolations of Philosophy. He lives in London.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Alain de Botton