Rating: 
Summary: consolation from critics
Review: How best to speak of Schopenhauer? Lightly or seriously?Both ways work. Really a shame that this book got pounded in the New York Times Book Review, because I got a lot out of it. Just a few months earlier, John Portmann got pounded in the New York Times as well for being too serious in When Bad Things Happen to Other People. Both that book and The Consolations of Philosophy devote chapters to Schopenhauer and to Nietzsche; both books tease out of these philosophers lessons for us to profit from today. Both ways of talking about Schopenhauer pan out. A good idea, no doubt, to take book critics with a grain of salt. No need to worry about consoling De Botton, in any event -- he has taught himself where to look for solace, as this snappy book shows.
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Summary: Simplicity can be profound
Review: The great complaint one might make against this book is to say, 'What the philosophers are saying is simple.' That certainly is true; it is simple. You don't need a Phd to understand Montaigne or Nietzsche - whatever philosophy professors might argue. However, simplicity shouldn't be confused with banality. There is - admittedly - a knife-edge of difference between them, but a difference no less; and Alain de Botton knows the difference. He is that rare thing; someone interested in writing about the good life, and who sees this project as seriously as - say - Nietzsche saw it. I strongly recommend the book - a bold and rare piece of art.
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Summary: Come ye disconsolate!
Review: Somehow, I managed to get through high school and college without ever seriously reading any of the great Western philosophers. The Consolations of Philosophy is an excellent introduction and quick (I mean,QUICK) overview of six of these men. The deadwhitemales discussed are Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. The discussion is lively and thought-provoking--and amusingly illustrated. This book would serve as an excellent secondary text for an introduction to philosophy course. Even the most jaded undergraduate will want to learn more about the teachings of the philosophers covered. I found the chapters on Seneca ("Consolation for Frustration"), Montaigne ("Consolation for Inadequacy"), and Nietzsche ("Consolation for Difficulties") the most engaging and challenging. De Botton's writing and thinking are fresh and remind me, for some reason, of the cultural essays of Susan Bordo (and Camille Paglia in her more reasonable moments).
Rating: 
Summary: no clothes on this emporer
Review: Oh, thank goodness for brick-n-mortar book stores! Had I not been able to inspect this book, I might have spent at Amazon based only on the other reviews. I opened the book at the beginning and read several pages and put it back on the shelf with a puzzled shrug. Later, recalling these glowing reviews, I went back and read more. And put it back with a frown. And, baffled at the absence of the wit and wisdom others claim to have found, I circled back yet a third time and read part of another chapter. Folks, you are all able to see some clothing on this emperor that escapes my gaze entirely. This is a bad book. It is dull. It is shallow. Its attempts at humor are forced and intrusive. What is worse than attempted whimsy that falls flat? And this book's whimsy is a flat souffle indeed. This book reduces the richness of the thought of several great minds to the thinnest of platitudes -- and it surrounds those platitudes with page after page of the author's self-centered ditherings and irrelevant graphics. There certainly is a market for a book that makes the thought of any philosophers accessible and relevant. This one is not that book. It is a disservice to the philosophers and to its readers.
Rating:
Summary: Triple Play
Review: Alain de Botton has written a remarkable book that 1) efficiently summarizes selected beliefs of six notable philosophers and 2) relates them to the troubles of everyday life while 3) achieving a tone and style that is a delight to read. (Not to mention the pictures.) I confess that as a product of a math and science education I was not well-schooled in philosophy, and have been doing some "catch-up" of late. de Botton offers a great place to start. From here, one could choose to move on to the original works, and I will. But "Consolations" has staying power on its own and many will find comfort here. (It's surprising to see the strong negative reviews of this book, but it must be noted that the book is a hybrid -- part philosophy, part self-help -- and as such is open to attack from both sides. To me, its dual nature is its strength. de Botton follows in the footsteps of some distinguished company who have worked to make the arts and humanities more accessible. Including, I should add, some of the artists themselves.)
Rating: 
Summary: Philosophy as Herbal Remedy
Review: This book would have opened doors for me in adolescence and reopens them now (parents of adolescents, go buy it, read it, and then pass it on to your children and know you've done a good thing). If you're an adult with some background in classic philosophy (however foggy or fresh), it will serve to remind you why you're passionately energized by some philosophy, confused by some, and maddened by the rest. It will send you back to your own bookshelves to reread those heavily marked passages in the original texts that motivate you to address your problems and justify your life. If you're an adult or an adolescent unfamiliar with classic philosophy, it just may start the whole process of studying it for you, a process which is harder and much more painful than reading this book (Nietzsche would thus approve, Chapter Six assures us). But de Botton's book doesn't just hold a simple mirror up to the greats, by the way, it holds a mirror up to you as the reader too, reminding you just which of the six common human ailments you regularly display and why - unpopularity, not enough money, frustration, inadequacy, a broken heart, or difficulty and bad luck. Lots of cute and interesting graphics and photos too. It's all simple and good and does no harm, in the best sense of all these things.
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Summary: A Magnificent Piece of Literary Work!
Review: A transforming experience! A wonderful collection of wisdom written in the most engaging prose. At its core, it is a profound and sophisticated self-help book that adorns the reader with the most powerful tools to deal with the deep and the shallow problems of life: the rational approach, and the optimistic world view. A must read for anyone who considers him/herself a student of life and believes in fortification of the mind to deal with the hardships of life.
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Summary: Philosophy
Review: I am no philosophy student. De Botton's book has made some philosophical concepts accessible to me in a way that I might not have become acquainted with otherwise. Regarding one of the philosphers written about in his De Botton's book, I might have never thought of being about to spell Nietzsche much less read his work. Now, I'm tempted to read more after learning Nietzsche's life and philosophies. Regarding whether or not the subject of philsophy is cheapened by popularizing it, there's nothing wrong with popularizing philosophy if it gets people to become interested in it. Also, De Botton's writing style is a pleasure to read.
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Summary: Real chicken soup for the needy soul
Review: Philosophers used to want to talk to real people. Nowadays, they just mumble to their colleagues, stab each other in the back in the pages of academic journals, and basically disgrace themselves in the eyes of the tradition of philosophy begun by Socrates. But not Alain de Botton. He really takes seriously the idea that philosophers are capable of conceiving of life and experience in new ways that console us - make us feel less alone and persecuted. This might sound silly, but this book truly does console. It is also wonderfully informative and witty. I read a review of this book in the New York Times that actually encouraged me to read it - though it was a terrible review. The reviewer was so sniffy and arrogant, I thought, 'I'm going to see if he's wrong.' Well, he certainly is. This is a small masterpiece. It's not a great great book - but it's what will be called a minor classic, a book that will be cherished and loved and passed around among friends. Incidentally, it's also got a great cover by that masterful Portland cartoonist, John Calahan
Rating:
Summary: A fine essay
Review: A confession: I'm a philosophy major, so I approached this book with caution. I wasn't looking for some kind of idle 'fun' piece, full of so-called jokes and whimsy. I was really afraid that this is what this book was going to be. But no; de Botton (who must have one of the strangest and most wonderful names of any writer writing today!) really is a master at a brilliant kind of essayistic reading. This is the sort of book that - believe it or not - keeps you up half the night reading. It's a million times better than any of those shlock self-help books hogging the NYTimes bestseller list. The author has a highly engaging voice. And though he has little hair left, his author photo is very cute too. Alain, if ever you're passing through LA, give me a call!
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