Status Anxiety (original 2002; edition 2005)

I enjoy Alain de Botton’s cheerful, breezy books which take on a weighty subject and provide easy to digest answers taken from art, literature and philosophy. It’s a mix of self-help book, descriptions of novels and paintings (including the pictures and paintings as well as technical diagrams) and philosophical musings, a very readable combination which some might accuse of shallowness. I find them pleasant to read and always have fond memories of his How Proust Can Change Your Life, which made me really want to read Proust for the first time. Status Anxiety is in the same mode, as the author looks at the unhappiness of being a person of no account.

First, he takes on the causes of the unhappiness. It’s harder to find love and friendship when one is of lower status and there are unfulfilled expectations of material wealth and achievement. Since society should be a meritocracy now, anyone who fails does so because of their own inferiority. Working for someone else creates an unhappy dependence on other people and forces outside of anyone’s control. De Botton has several solutions – philosophy (to learn that only some opinions are worth listening to), art (to read about unpleasant high status characters, laugh at them in comedies, see that they are susceptible in tragedies and to be inspired by depictions of ordinary people), politics (to learn other philosophies besides the prevailing wealth=value, possibly bring about change), religion (focusing on life and death instead of status) and bohemia (actively disdain the bourgeoisie and ideas of wealth and respectability, valuing people for reasons besides status). There are some small complaints – some wandering off topics, the religions section is mainly about Christianity – but this is a pleasant and enjoyable book as usual. ( )

While I was initially hesitant due to the title ('Pish, I'm not anxious about status'), from this book alone I can confidently say that Alain de Botton has earned the title of Philosopher. The book takes a historical context (with excellent research both in broad terms and in details) of how our status-obsessed society has evolved. It then details various potential solutions from religion to art to bohemia and manages to be erudite, unassuming, thought-provoking, and instructive, while leaving ultimate conclusions in the hands of the reader.

If the purpose of philosophy is to help people live better lives, then this book is a masterpiece.

Status Anxiety provided 24 hours of enjoyment and answers to a lifetime of questions. I've spent my adult life dealing with issues Alain de Botton addresses with intelligence, insight, and an appropriate degree of humor. I couldn't put this book down, something I rare say for nonfiction. ( )

This is a fun read. I especially liked the last part of the book where he describes the solutions to status anxiety. ( )

I read this book when I was sailing to Brazil - achieving a lifelong ambition and leaving the rat race for a year or thereabouts. So, I was ready for this, with an open mind (eventually 78 nights at sea, many of them on my back looking at the stars). So, what about the book? Completely different to 'On Love' and 'The Consolations of Philosophy' (thanks Peter at congnatum.com for putting me on to Alain de Botton), the basic idea that our current system of measuring people on a scale of wealth (and, arguably, 'fame'), is purely a fashion. There are other scales: 'holiness'; fighting prowess and so on, and at different times in history, and in different cultures, having 'currency' was not important.I got my head around that, and it resonated with me. My status anxiety faded. Now I just need cash for food, not status ;-) ( )