The Architecture of Happiness (Vintage)
by Alain De Botton
List Price:
Our Price: $10.29
You Save: $7.71 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Alain De BottonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-08
ISBN: 0307277240
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of The Architecture of Happiness (Vintage)
Book Review: Typography of Happiness?
Summary: 5 Stars
Alain de Botton's Architecture of Happiness is a humanist's guide to understanding built environments. Finding room to appreciate both classical and contemporary architecture, de Botton resolves the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns by suggesting that every architecture strives to provide the conditions for happiness. "What works of design and architecture talk to us about is the kind of life that would most appropriately unfold within and around them. They tell us of certain moods that they seek to encourage and sustain in their inhabitants." (72)
Although the book is dedicated to the pursuit of happiness, its best moments are shot through with midlife melancholy. De Botton reflects on the ache inspired by an eighteenth-century ornament: "The ceiling is a repository of the qualities the man would like to have more of in himself: it manages to be both playful and serious, subtle and clear, formal and unpretentious ... it has a profound unsentimental sweetness, like that of a smile breaking across a child's face" (148-9).
The book itself is founded on the double premise that our surroundings affect our moods and modes of living, yet "will only ever constitute a small, and imperfect protest against the state of things" (25). De Botton, that is, believes deeply, very deeply, that architecture matters, but he does not suffer from the self-importance of the professional architect. Phew.
What excites me most about de Botton's work, however, is his ability to weave design, literature, and philosophy into a mode of discourse that speaks with an eye to illumination, not obscurity. The writing is too beautiful to be reduced to a set of "take-aways," the emerging tin standard for public speech, yet de Botton uses page breaks and illustrations to escape the mesmerizing movement of his own syntax. Could this be ... the typography of happiness?
Summary of The Architecture of Happiness (Vintage)
The Achitecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations.One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.Professional & Technical Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Professional & Technical Books
Advanced Strength and Applied Stress Analysisby Richard Budynas
McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math; Published: 1998-10-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $156.42
Weather Flyingby Robert Buck
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 1997-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.69
Price in other shops:
Introduction to Flight (Mcgraw-Hill Series in Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering)by John D. Anderson
Mcgraw-Hill College; Published: 1988-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $99.95
Price in other shops:
Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the Edge of Technologyby James R. Chiles
HarperBusiness; Published: 2001-08-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.55
Price in other shops:
Principles and Applications of Electrical Engineering:McGraw-Hill Higher Education; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $70.00
Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Scienceby Curtis Ebbesmeyer, Eric Scigliano
Smithsonian; Published: 2009-03-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy (Perennial Classics)by Irvin D. Yalom
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2000-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
The Anti-Aging Zoneby Barry Sears
William Morrow; Published: 1998-12-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.15
Price in other shops:
The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital : The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C.by David Ovason
Harper; Published: 2000-07-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $38.95
Thyroid Power: Ten Steps to Total Healthby Richard Shames, Karilee H. Shames
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2002-05-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.12
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Integrityby Stephen L. Carter
Harper Perennial; Published: 1996-12-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.72
Price in other shops:
Atmospheres: Architectural Environments - Surrounding Objectsby Peter Zumthor
Birkhäuser Architecture; Published: 2006-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.93
Price in other shops:
A Week at the Airport (Vintage International Original)by Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 2010-09-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops:
Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religionby Alain De Botton
Pantheon; Published: 2012-03-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.12
Price in other shops:
On Love: A Novelby Alain de Botton
Grove Press; Published: 2006-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (Vintage International)by Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 2010-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.97
Price in other shops:
Status Anxietyby Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 2005-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
The Art of Travelby Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 2004-05-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
How Proust Can Change Your Lifeby Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 1998-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops:
The Consolations of Philosophyby Alain De Botton
Vintage; Published: 2001-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.36
Price in other shops: