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Article: Critical eye: Alain de Botton's Status Anxiety ... more Morrissey ... and a novel that s for the birds.
- Article from:
- W
- Article date:
- June 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Conde Nast Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The self-help category may be one of the brighter spots in the publishing industry, but for those who d sooner wear a velour tracksuit to the Costume Institute gala than be spotted reading such a book, there's Alain de Botton, personal-improvement guru to the academically inclined. In his latest tome, STATUS ANXIETY (Pantheon), the author applies his prodigious book learnin' to the perennial quandary of social status.
First, he isolates the problem: In essence, You're a loser, or at least you feel like one when you compare your bank account to Bloomberg's or your belly to Britney's. As for what to do about it, de Botton offers some characteristically high-minded ...