The Consolations of Philosophy

In an age when most philosophy has retreated to technical problems within the academy, Alain de Botton uses the ideas of the great philosophers to illuminate the most pressing concerns of everyday life. The result is a book that manages to be at once entertaining and deeply enriching. In six chapters ranging over more than 2,000 years of philosophy, de Botton takes on six common problems: unpopularity, not having enough money, frustration, inadequacy, a broken heart, and difficulties. He shows how Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche each tackled one of these problems with astounding wisdom and relevance.