A Week at the Airport (2009)

This is a slight book, enlivened by some excellent reportage-style photography, it doesn't say much and it doesn't go anywhere and was written at the behest of the BAA boss for the new terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. I hope he thinks he got value for money.

That said, it was quite an enjoyable mix of philosophic musings and the life of an airport, of travel. I would think it would actually be the ideal book to pass time waiting at the gate for the plane to be called. ( )

Alain de Botton was invited to spend a week at Heathrow, to observe and interpret the moments of the world's busiest airport. I anticipated a literary behind the scenes tour, but instead was rewarded with a different but ultimately more satisfying collection of reflections on the nature of journeys, anticipation, human foibles, power, economics and shoe-shines.
He reminds us that anything and everything can be interesting, even the mundane things we encounter every day, but no longer really see or notice because they are so familiar. If we look with a traveller's eye, we can once again see the wonders and complexities of our own daily worlds. It's a slim little book, littered with small photos accompanying his observations, and is a fast but satisfying read. ( )

This is a light version of his Art of Travel, which is not a bad thing at all. ( )

I agree with readers who found this to be lighter than they had hoped, and also with those who found it sufficiently absorbing. De Botton provides a nicely phrased but ultimately superficial pensée on his week spent in or adjacent to Heathrow. The idea of this project is a good one, though not de Botton's--he was a recipient of the opportunity. There's nothing to dislike about the narrative, and the photos provide a additional medium that is wonderfully atmospheric.

My dirty secret is that I love airports. I regularly kill up to 12 hours at international airports. If I were to be a writer in residence at an airport (and let's be frank: Many of us have spent many days trapped in a single airport), I'd have explored aspects unexamined by de Botton, such as sleeping in the airport (not at the adjacent hotel)--at a gate, in the women's room, behind an unused counter, in a car in the parking garage--, riding a baggage cart on the tarmac, eating foods I never eat, watching rest room traffic, or determining the feasibility of visiting the other terminals, for example. I'd want to evaluate the art, see what long-term menu variety can be constructed at the shops and restaurants, try on clothes, or see how good a haircut and massage I could get. The man is in Heathrow, where I'd assuredly sample as much Scotch as God and nature permitted, perhaps purchased by strategically flying in to Terminal 5 from a trans-border point of origin so I could stock up at the World Duty Free Arrivals Store. If I were lucky they'd have my favorite, Glenmorangie Cellar 13, a 10-year-old special bottling that until recently was only available at duty free and was not exported, and to which I am extremely partial. To sip a wee dram at Heathrow, perhaps accompanied by a "luxury chocolate" from The Chocolate Box while perusing a copy of Jackson's beautifully illustrated [b:Whiskey: The Definitive World Guide|291997|Whiskey The Definitive World Guide|Michael Jackson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173461325s/291997.jpg|283310] (acquired at WH Smith) would be a deep and quiet pleasure with no plane to catch or security queues to endure. ( )

De Botton was asked to be a writer-in-residence for a week at a brand new terminal at Heathrow. He and a photographer showed various facets of the airport experience: the airport hotel stay, the different workers, what happens to your luggage inside the terminal after you give it over, where the airline food comes from, people leaving each other, people meeting each other - and he gets just enough details to be interesting without becoming mundane. I would say it's a collection of airport essays, but there's a sequence and cohesiveness to the book that elevates it from a collection of essays. ( )