The Consolations of Philosophy

Bestselling philosophical writer Alain de Botton, author of Status Anxiety and The Art of Travel, explores how philosophy can help us with everyday problems in his number-one bestseller The Consolations of Philosophy.

The inspiration for the TV series Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness

Alain de Botton, bestselling author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, has set six of the finest minds in the history of philosophy to work on the problems of everyday life. Here then are Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche on some of the things that bother us all: lack of money, the pain of love, inadequacy, anxiety, the fear of failure and the pressure to conform.

'Singlehandedly, de Botton has taken philosophy back to its simplest and most important purpose: helping us live our lives' Christina Hardyment, Independent

'No doubt about it, philosophy is the new rock and roll and Alain de Botton is its Colonel Tom Parker...a pleasure to read. And good writing, like good philosophy, is always good consolation' John Banville, Irish Times

'Few discussions on the great philosophers can have been so entertaining...an ingenious imaginative book' Humphrey Carpenter, Sunday Times

Alain de Botton, writer and philosopher of the everyday, has reached the top of bestseller lists in over 30 countries; he writes on issues that are familiar to each and every one of us in a friendly and accessible style. His other works of non-fiction from Penguin are The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, The Art of Travel, Status Anxiety, The Architecture of Happiness and Religion for Atheists.