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Article: `The Art of Travel,' by Alain de Botton; Pantheon.(The Seattle Times)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- August 7, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. 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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It would be difficult to name a writer as erudite and yet as reader-friendly as British author Alain de Botton ("Kiss & Tell," "How Proust Can Change Your Life"). He seems to have read every book, studied every painting, investigated every philosophy _ but he would never dream of lording his accomplishments over his readers.
Instead, with a wry, self-deprecating charm, he passes his enthusiasms along in such manner that you can't help being delighted by them. The fact that you're absorbing a syllabus's worth of information while you're at it doesn't immediately register. More striking are his humor, his pithy turns of phrase and the sense he gives you of seeing ...