Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Absoluely brilliant book which masterfully analyses the very architecture of modern romance. A must read!!, 06 Jan 2009
I have read most of De Botton's works and this to me is, quite unquestionably, my favourite. But it's not just for De Botton fans, by any means...

All of us who have known what it is to love another, and be loved, will find much of brilliance in De Botton's incisive commentary. Indeed, if Essays In Love were music, it would be the definitive soundtrack to modern romance - perfectly echoing to rise and fall of every meaningful relationship between significant others; & more particularly of those whose moment was not exactly destined for eternal bliss.

I must also admit to having owned more than one copy as each time I've bought Essays In Love, a 'friend' has 'borrowed' it and, well..., let's just say that in the said process, consigned my ownership to modern history. Ah well, perhaps it's just as well that my circle of friends is diminishing with age! Nonetheless, I have now no reservations, at all, in buying another copy to treasure for years to come. And so should you: utterly brilliant!

Boring and self centered.. , 13 Oct 2007
I love Alain de Botton's 'Architecture of Happiness" and "The Art of Travel"; highly intelligent and wonderful books. This book was like sitting in a pub, listening to one of your friends who has just be dumped. If you like people who wallow in self pity, and talk about 'so called love' this book is for you; but this book had me running for the hills! It just made me think that possibly the author has never experience true love. Dissappointing, and quite sad.

Novel approach to popular philosophy, 03 May 2007
Alain de Botton's first book is a mixture of novel and essay, charting the development and disintegration of a love affair. Whilst the book would probably fail as a novel - there is little plot, and the characters and the scenarios in which they are placed serve only to illustrate de Botton's philosophical musings on the many aspects of love, it succeeds as an easily accessible, thought-provoking, often amusing and original work. The author writes clearly, engagingly and with wit and intelligence. Recommended.

A read that strikes a chord., 16 May 2006
This is a wonderful book. It charts the development of a relationship between the speaker and a woman he meets on a flight. Everyone will undoubtedly relate to the different stages of the relationship, from initial uncomfortable exchanges, charged with expectation, to the concern that you are more involved than your object of desire. It's a book that contains moments of high humour and accurately depicts the frustrations, confusions, joy and desolate despair that only romantic entanglement can bring. Neatly suffused with readable and thought provoking asides, this is a fantastic book - read it.

Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Absoluely brilliant book which masterfully analyses the very architecture of modern romance. A must read!!, 06 Jan 2009
I have read most of De Botton's works and this to me is, quite unquestionably, my favourite. But it's not just for De Botton fans, by any means...

All of us who have known what it is to love another, and be loved, will find much of brilliance in De Botton's incisive commentary. Indeed, if Essays In Love were music, it would be the definitive soundtrack to modern romance - perfectly echoing to rise and fall of every meaningful relationship between significant others; & more particularly of those whose moment was not exactly destined for eternal bliss.

I must also admit to having owned more than one copy as each time I've bought Essays In Love, a 'friend' has 'borrowed' it and, well..., let's just say that in the said process, consigned my ownership to modern history. Ah well, perhaps it's just as well that my circle of friends is diminishing with age! Nonetheless, I have now no reservations, at all, in buying another copy to treasure for years to come. And so should you: utterly brilliant!

Boring and self centered.. , 13 Oct 2007
I love Alain de Botton's 'Architecture of Happiness" and "The Art of Travel"; highly intelligent and wonderful books. This book was like sitting in a pub, listening to one of your friends who has just be dumped. If you like people who wallow in self pity, and talk about 'so called love' this book is for you; but this book had me running for the hills! It just made me think that possibly the author has never experience true love. Dissappointing, and quite sad.

Novel approach to popular philosophy, 03 May 2007
Alain de Botton's first book is a mixture of novel and essay, charting the development and disintegration of a love affair. Whilst the book would probably fail as a novel - there is little plot, and the characters and the scenarios in which they are placed serve only to illustrate de Botton's philosophical musings on the many aspects of love, it succeeds as an easily accessible, thought-provoking, often amusing and original work. The author writes clearly, engagingly and with wit and intelligence. Recommended.

A read that strikes a chord., 16 May 2006
This is a wonderful book. It charts the development of a relationship between the speaker and a woman he meets on a flight. Everyone will undoubtedly relate to the different stages of the relationship, from initial uncomfortable exchanges, charged with expectation, to the concern that you are more involved than your object of desire. It's a book that contains moments of high humour and accurately depicts the frustrations, confusions, joy and desolate despair that only romantic entanglement can bring. Neatly suffused with readable and thought provoking asides, this is a fantastic book - read it.

Clever, but not gripping, 12 Jun 2004
De Botton is a very able writer and he makes some amusing comments about falling and being in love. However, he repeats himself repetitively and I soon lost interest.

The story of a romance, 21 Jul 2003
This is the story of a romance from start to finish. It is a hilarious and thought provoking study of love and how it changes us. As you read you realise he could be talking about your last relationship.

Brilliant but also published by Picador as 'Essays n Love'., 03 Jan 2001
This book is published under different names by different publishers ('Essays in Love' by Picador and 'On Love' by Grove Press) and I fell foul of this by buying through Amazon (and therefore unable to physically see they were identical). Apart from this, I thoroughly recommend Alain de Botton. It's not for those who prefer not to think though, it is thought provoking and makes you work hard. Nevertheless it also can make you smile at the truisims within the pages. Well worth a read but not for the lazy.

forget the self-help books..., 30 Mar 1999
Who needs to know "Why Women Think the Way they Do" or "What Every Woman should know about Men." De Botton has captured so many of what are probably universal feelings and thoughts on love. Painful, yet funny, because so much of it's true!

A great read for the single girl, 26 Mar 1999
If you've ever wondered, as I did, what it would be like to have a relationship with a man who was intelligent, insightful, well-read, honest, open, emotionally available, even vulnerable, had a wit that made you laugh out loud AND was madly in love with you, adored you and everything about you, check this out. Alain de Botton is brilliant.

Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Absoluely brilliant book which masterfully analyses the very architecture of modern romance. A must read!!, 06 Jan 2009
I have read most of De Botton's works and this to me is, quite unquestionably, my favourite. But it's not just for De Botton fans, by any means...

All of us who have known what it is to love another, and be loved, will find much of brilliance in De Botton's incisive commentary. Indeed, if Essays In Love were music, it would be the definitive soundtrack to modern romance - perfectly echoing to rise and fall of every meaningful relationship between significant others; & more particularly of those whose moment was not exactly destined for eternal bliss.

I must also admit to having owned more than one copy as each time I've bought Essays In Love, a 'friend' has 'borrowed' it and, well..., let's just say that in the said process, consigned my ownership to modern history. Ah well, perhaps it's just as well that my circle of friends is diminishing with age! Nonetheless, I have now no reservations, at all, in buying another copy to treasure for years to come. And so should you: utterly brilliant!

Boring and self centered.. , 13 Oct 2007
I love Alain de Botton's 'Architecture of Happiness" and "The Art of Travel"; highly intelligent and wonderful books. This book was like sitting in a pub, listening to one of your friends who has just be dumped. If you like people who wallow in self pity, and talk about 'so called love' this book is for you; but this book had me running for the hills! It just made me think that possibly the author has never experience true love. Dissappointing, and quite sad.

Novel approach to popular philosophy, 03 May 2007
Alain de Botton's first book is a mixture of novel and essay, charting the development and disintegration of a love affair. Whilst the book would probably fail as a novel - there is little plot, and the characters and the scenarios in which they are placed serve only to illustrate de Botton's philosophical musings on the many aspects of love, it succeeds as an easily accessible, thought-provoking, often amusing and original work. The author writes clearly, engagingly and with wit and intelligence. Recommended.

A read that strikes a chord., 16 May 2006
This is a wonderful book. It charts the development of a relationship between the speaker and a woman he meets on a flight. Everyone will undoubtedly relate to the different stages of the relationship, from initial uncomfortable exchanges, charged with expectation, to the concern that you are more involved than your object of desire. It's a book that contains moments of high humour and accurately depicts the frustrations, confusions, joy and desolate despair that only romantic entanglement can bring. Neatly suffused with readable and thought provoking asides, this is a fantastic book - read it.

Clever, but not gripping, 12 Jun 2004
De Botton is a very able writer and he makes some amusing comments about falling and being in love. However, he repeats himself repetitively and I soon lost interest.

The story of a romance, 21 Jul 2003
This is the story of a romance from start to finish. It is a hilarious and thought provoking study of love and how it changes us. As you read you realise he could be talking about your last relationship.

Brilliant but also published by Picador as 'Essays n Love'., 03 Jan 2001
This book is published under different names by different publishers ('Essays in Love' by Picador and 'On Love' by Grove Press) and I fell foul of this by buying through Amazon (and therefore unable to physically see they were identical). Apart from this, I thoroughly recommend Alain de Botton. It's not for those who prefer not to think though, it is thought provoking and makes you work hard. Nevertheless it also can make you smile at the truisims within the pages. Well worth a read but not for the lazy.

forget the self-help books..., 30 Mar 1999
Who needs to know "Why Women Think the Way they Do" or "What Every Woman should know about Men." De Botton has captured so many of what are probably universal feelings and thoughts on love. Painful, yet funny, because so much of it's true!

A great read for the single girl, 26 Mar 1999
If you've ever wondered, as I did, what it would be like to have a relationship with a man who was intelligent, insightful, well-read, honest, open, emotionally available, even vulnerable, had a wit that made you laugh out loud AND was madly in love with you, adored you and everything about you, check this out. Alain de Botton is brilliant.

Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Absoluely brilliant book which masterfully analyses the very architecture of modern romance. A must read!!, 06 Jan 2009
I have read most of De Botton's works and this to me is, quite unquestionably, my favourite. But it's not just for De Botton fans, by any means...

All of us who have known what it is to love another, and be loved, will find much of brilliance in De Botton's incisive commentary. Indeed, if Essays In Love were music, it would be the definitive soundtrack to modern romance - perfectly echoing to rise and fall of every meaningful relationship between significant others; & more particularly of those whose moment was not exactly destined for eternal bliss.

I must also admit to having owned more than one copy as each time I've bought Essays In Love, a 'friend' has 'borrowed' it and, well..., let's just say that in the said process, consigned my ownership to modern history. Ah well, perhaps it's just as well that my circle of friends is diminishing with age! Nonetheless, I have now no reservations, at all, in buying another copy to treasure for years to come. And so should you: utterly brilliant!

Boring and self centered.. , 13 Oct 2007
I love Alain de Botton's 'Architecture of Happiness" and "The Art of Travel"; highly intelligent and wonderful books. This book was like sitting in a pub, listening to one of your friends who has just be dumped. If you like people who wallow in self pity, and talk about 'so called love' this book is for you; but this book had me running for the hills! It just made me think that possibly the author has never experience true love. Dissappointing, and quite sad.

Novel approach to popular philosophy, 03 May 2007
Alain de Botton's first book is a mixture of novel and essay, charting the development and disintegration of a love affair. Whilst the book would probably fail as a novel - there is little plot, and the characters and the scenarios in which they are placed serve only to illustrate de Botton's philosophical musings on the many aspects of love, it succeeds as an easily accessible, thought-provoking, often amusing and original work. The author writes clearly, engagingly and with wit and intelligence. Recommended.

A read that strikes a chord., 16 May 2006
This is a wonderful book. It charts the development of a relationship between the speaker and a woman he meets on a flight. Everyone will undoubtedly relate to the different stages of the relationship, from initial uncomfortable exchanges, charged with expectation, to the concern that you are more involved than your object of desire. It's a book that contains moments of high humour and accurately depicts the frustrations, confusions, joy and desolate despair that only romantic entanglement can bring. Neatly suffused with readable and thought provoking asides, this is a fantastic book - read it.

Clever, but not gripping, 12 Jun 2004
De Botton is a very able writer and he makes some amusing comments about falling and being in love. However, he repeats himself repetitively and I soon lost interest.

The story of a romance, 21 Jul 2003
This is the story of a romance from start to finish. It is a hilarious and thought provoking study of love and how it changes us. As you read you realise he could be talking about your last relationship.

Brilliant but also published by Picador as 'Essays n Love'., 03 Jan 2001
This book is published under different names by different publishers ('Essays in Love' by Picador and 'On Love' by Grove Press) and I fell foul of this by buying through Amazon (and therefore unable to physically see they were identical). Apart from this, I thoroughly recommend Alain de Botton. It's not for those who prefer not to think though, it is thought provoking and makes you work hard. Nevertheless it also can make you smile at the truisims within the pages. Well worth a read but not for the lazy.

forget the self-help books..., 30 Mar 1999
Who needs to know "Why Women Think the Way they Do" or "What Every Woman should know about Men." De Botton has captured so many of what are probably universal feelings and thoughts on love. Painful, yet funny, because so much of it's true!

A great read for the single girl, 26 Mar 1999
If you've ever wondered, as I did, what it would be like to have a relationship with a man who was intelligent, insightful, well-read, honest, open, emotionally available, even vulnerable, had a wit that made you laugh out loud AND was madly in love with you, adored you and everything about you, check this out. Alain de Botton is brilliant.

Nice book, 03 Sep 2008
Insightful. Deffo going to read more of ADB's books. Comes at a different angle and solves a lot of modern day problems of living.

An erudite meditation on Marcel Proust's life - and its lessons, 28 Jan 2008
Are you tired of self-help manuals? Is that because the authors often seem to need help themselves? Or they all spout the same buzzwords and clichés? Or they are banal and boring? It sounds as if you are all self-help-manualed-out. Perhaps you need something different. Try Marcel Proust, revered master of exquisite expression and luminous prose. In Search of Lost Time, also called Remembrance of Things Past, Proust's one-and-a-quarter-million-word magnum opus, does not contain a trite sentence or conventional thought. You can learn much about living from such a profound genius, including how to spend your time, how to see and feel things, and why, sometimes, it is best just to stay in bed. Alain de Botton is your witty, often hilarious guide, providing valuable life lessons from Proust's writings and thoughts. getAbstract finds this ingenious, utterly original treatment thoroughly enjoyable. Wishing you the same.

Sublime, 21 Jan 2008
I'm afraid to go and read 'In Search...' now, in case it is de Botton that I've been seduced by rather than Proust!

How to appreciate the simple things, 09 Aug 2007
Reading anything by de Botton I feel a serenity descend upon me. His writing seems to have a soothing effect and this book was no different.

In "How Proust can change your life" he takes the wisdom to be found in the novels of Proust and shows how they can help us to live better lives. Or perhaps to make us aware that we live better lives than we think.

There are sections on how to love life, read for yourself, take your time, suffer succesfully, express your emotions, be a good friend, open your eyes, be happy in love and put books down.

I loved this book and it has made me feel I can read Proust and appreciate it properly. Swann's Way is next for me and I am looking forward to it with anticipation. But whether you intend to read Proust or not this book is well worth reading.

de Botton on top form, 21 Jun 2007
There is a section in this fantastic, unique work in which de Botton describes Proust's fanatical devotion to John Ruskin, the English art critic, an admiration which verged on infatuation. This book reveals that de Botton feels much the same way about Proust. Happily, the reader is left in absolutely no doubt as to why the author feels that way so insightful are the observations and so pertinent are the excerpts from "In Search of Lost Time". In fact, those without the time to read Proust's masterpiece (that is, almost everyone) will find no better synthesis of that great novel, and no more persuasive illustration of Proust's brilliance.

The whole experience is truly life-changing and, whilst the title does not reveal this, de Botton himself deserves some of the credit for that too.

Absoluely brilliant book which masterfully analyses the very architecture of modern romance. A must read!!, 06 Jan 2009
I have read most of De Botton's works and this to me is, quite unquestionably, my favourite. But it's not just for De Botton fans, by any means...

All of us who have known what it is to love another, and be loved, will find much of brilliance in De Botton's incisive commentary. Indeed, if Essays In Love were music, it would be the definitive soundtrack to modern romance - perfectly echoing to rise and fall of every meaningful relationship between significant others; & more particularly of those whose moment was not exactly destined for eternal bliss.

I must also admit to having owned more than one copy as each time I've bought Essays In Love, a 'friend' has 'borrowed' it and, well..., let's just say that in the said process, consigned my ownership to modern history. Ah well, perhaps it's just as well that my circle of friends is diminishing with age! Nonetheless, I have now no reservations, at all, in buying another copy to treasure for years to come. And so should you: utterly brilliant!

Boring and self centered.. , 13 Oct 2007
I love Alain de Botton's 'Architecture of Happiness" and "The Art of Travel"; highly intelligent and wonderful books. This book was like sitting in a pub, listening to one of your friends who has just be dumped. If you like people who wallow in self pity, and talk about 'so called love' this book is for you; but this book had me running for the hills! It just made me think that possibly the author has never experience true love. Dissappointing, and quite sad.

Novel approach to popular philosophy, 03 May 2007
Alain de Botton's first book is a mixture of novel and essay, charting the development and disintegration of a love affair. Whilst the book would probably fail as a novel - there is little plot, and the characters and the scenarios in which they are placed serve only to illustrate de Botton's philosophical musings on the many aspects of love, it succeeds as an easily accessible, thought-provoking, often amusing and original work. The author writes clearly, engagingly and with wit and intelligence. Recommended.

A read that strikes a chord., 16 May 2006
This is a wonderful book. It charts the development of a relationship between the speaker and a woman he meets on a flight. Everyone will undoubtedly relate to the different stages of the relationship, from initial uncomfortable exchanges, charged with expectation, to the concern that you are more involved than your object of desire. It's a book that contains moments of high humour and accurately depicts the frustrations, confusions, joy and desolate despair that only romantic entanglement can bring. Neatly suffused with readable and thought provoking asides, this is a fantastic book - read it.