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Status Anxiety
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.5
EAN: 9780375725357
ISBN: 0375725350
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: May 10, 2005
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: May 10, 2005
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
Anyone who’s ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbor’s Lexus had better read Alain de Botton’s irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master explicator of our civilization and its discontents turns his attention to the insatiable quest for status, a quest that has less to do with material comfort than with love. To demonstrate his thesis, de Botton ranges through Western history and thought from St. Augustine to Andrew Carnegie and Machiavelli to Anthony Robbins.Whether it’s assessing the class-consciousness of Christianity or the convulsions of consumer capitalism, dueling or home-furnishing, Status Anxiety is infallibly entertaining. And when it examines the virtues of informed misanthropy, art appreciation, or walking a lobster on a leash, it is not only wise but helpful.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Entertainingly thought-provoking
Like a series of footnotes to an otherwise non-existent text, SA is a collection of so many observations -- few of them original, many of them interesting, all of them all the more interesting for their juxtaposing. SA is a bit of philosophy, a bit of history, a bit of sociology, and some other bits tossed in a bowl and stirred together. The resulting brew had just enough caffeine to keep me awake and alert from start to finish, and just enough flavor to please the palate. Having finished, I now ... Read More
Rating: - two different audio versions
My mother enjoyed Alain de Botton's book Status Anxiety on cd, read by the author- so she suggested I listen to it on a road trip I took recently. So I did, and I liked it well enough, but found the author's voice very cool and uninteresting, inflectionless. I was surprised, looking at the label of the cd to find that it was abridged, so I bought a copy of the book at a local bookshop and there was so much in it that was not on the cd, not to mention all the pictures (of course). This abridged cd version ... Read More
Rating: - A good way of avoiding misery
Status Anxiety sets out to use philosophy, art, history and economics to describe and understand what drives us to seek status and why we become envious of the success of those around us. This book is not a philosophy text and, like Alain's other books, is written in an easy to read style and tackles the question in an interesting and thoughtful way.
The book is written in two parts, with the first covering the causes of status anxiety, which Alain De Botton sets out as being lovelessness, snobbery, ... Read More
Rating:  - Important Satire
Status Anxiety as coined by Alain de Botton, is probably one of the most important aspects of modern western life, as it is propably one of the greatest causes for unhappiness in us modern supermarket folk.
His book dives deep into this issue, and shows how the lack of Status Anxiety can bring one much more happiness.
Rating: - Status Anxiety
The author provides a wide breath of historical and cultural information. The book is an invaluable resource for anyone who is not caught up in the pursuit of high status. The tone is straight forward and sympathetic.
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