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Status Anxiety
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
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A bit washy.
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More Alain needed....
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The boring debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is finally moved on by Alain de Botton's inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are of course entirely false - and yet that religions still have important things to teach the secular world.
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Didn't hold my attention
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Prose at its most elegant, beautifully performed
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Words flowed like water flows in a river.
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Don't 'read' when your heart is breaking
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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.
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We are never really taught how to make sense of the torrent of news we face every day, writes Alain de Botton (author of the best-selling The Architecture of Happiness), but this has a huge impact on our sense of what matters and of how we should lead our lives. In his dazzling new book, de Botton takes twenty-five archetypal news stories - including an airplane crash, a murder, a celebrity interview and a political scandal - and submits them to unusually intense analysis with a view to helping us navigate our news-soaked age.
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Great book. Essential listening/ reading
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We spend most of our waking lives at work - in occupations often chosen by our unthinking 16-year-old selves. And yet we rarely ask ourselves how we got there or what it might mean for us. Equally intrigued by work's pleasures and its pains, Alain de Botton heads into the office, the factory, the fishing fleet, and the logistics centre, ears and eyes open to the beauty, interest, and sheer strangeness of the modern workplace. Why do we do it? What makes it pleasurable? And why do we daily exhaust not only ourselves but also the planet?
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This book is a poem
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Best book ever
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Excellent as always
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In The Romantic Movement, Alain de Botton explores the progress of a love affair from first meeting to breaking up, intercut with musings on the nature of art of love. The relationship between Alice, an advertising executive, and Eric, a banker, is examined at every stage, supplemented by quizzes and commentary by a chorus of great philosophers, from Descartes to Plato to Aretha Franklin. The Romantic Movement will charm listeners and lovers alike with wit, insight, and intelligence.
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In Lessons in Stoicism, philosopher John Sellars weaves together the key ideas of the three great Roman Stoics - Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius - with snapshots of their fascinating lives, to show us how their ideas can help us today. In vivid prose, Sellars shows how the works of these three Stoics have inspired people ever since, speaking as they do to some of the perennial issues that face anyone trying to navigate their way through life.
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Helpful and inspiring
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Think Again
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Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In recent months, the pandemic has forced us all to reevaluate our assumptions about health and safety and multiple acts of police brutality have challenged most of us to reconsider our responsibility for fighting racism. Yet in our daily lives, too many of us still favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt.
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Genuinely thought provoking
- By John on 18-02-21
Summary
For the first time, Alain de Botton gives a name to this universal condition and sets out to investigate both its origins and possible solutions. He looks at history, philosophy, economics, art, and politics, and reveals the many ingenious ways that great minds have overcome their worries.
The result is a audiobook that is not only entertaining and thought-provoking, but genuinely wise and helpful as well.
More from the same
What listeners say about Status Anxiety
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Judy Corstjens
- 16-07-10
Talking about taboos
Alain de Bottin is intelligent and educated, and it is a pleasure to listen to his lucid, honest and sympathetic analysis of the human need for status. It has long been observed that there is a contradiction between the amount of goods enjoyed by our society and the happiness delivered by this material success. This book goes a long way towards explaining that conundrum.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Duncan
- 20-05-06
excellent
Light and well read by the author.
Easily understandable.
Not lost in scholorly details but dealing with
important issues relevant to a truly social life.
Please read this.
6 people found this helpful
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- J
- 18-01-19
Interesting
Good listen. Quality recording. The subject matter refers to some interesting further reading or listening.
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- Maria
- 04-12-16
Wonderful
It is worth listening to this - if for no other reason, in order to consider an alternative perspective..
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- Andrew
- 21-06-05
This guy is amazing
If you like History, philosophy and psychology its all in here. Alain de Botton gathers up peoples' ideas from the last few hundred years and unveils a kind of secret depression that most people in western society suffers from and don't really understand or even know its there. The author explains some of the reasons why we get depressed over things like money, luxery goods and other peoples' opinion of us and by explaining this depression we are somewhat alleviated from it. He is a good speaker whos choice in words are very poetic. This book really opened my eyes and had an great effect on me.
5 people found this helpful
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Overall

- Calvin
- 01-11-05
excellent
A must read. One of my ten most important books.
2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-04-17
loved it
great book!
Alain De Botton is a very eloquent writer and a good reader.
this book puts things in perspective. I really like that Alain never presumes to do the thinking for you. His work is never prescriptive. Instead he provides a wealth of perspectives that help you think clearer and make your own decisions.
A very easy and thought-provoking read.
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- Cay.S
- 11-02-13
Illuminating
I found this book to help explain much of why modern society is so highly strung. Knowing the psychology around it has helped me relax a little around "status anxiety". It was an enjoyable read