Alain De Botton

Few activities seem to promise us as much happiness as going travelling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel to, we seldom ask why we go and how we might become more fulfilled by doing so. With the help of a selection of writers, artists and thinkers - including Flaubert, Edward Hopper, Wordsworth and Van Gogh - Alain de Botton's bestselling The Art of Travel provides invaluable insights into everything from holiday romance to hotel mini-bars, airports to sight-seeing. The perfect antidote to those guides that tell us what to do when we get there, The Art of Traveltries to explain why we really went in the first place - and helpfully suggests how we might be happier on our journeys. 'Richly evocative, sharp and funny. De Botton proves himself to be a very fine travel writer indeed.' Sunday Telegraph 'Delightful, profound, entertaining. I doubt if de Botton has written a dull sentence in his life.' Jan Morris 'An elegant and subtle work, unlike any other. Beguiling.' Colin Thubron, The Times 'Honest, funny and dripping with witty aphorisms. Extremely entertaining and enlightening . . . all the way to journey's end.' Herald

The Art of Travel

An inquiry into the human desire to travel and the ways in which the travel experience is affected by anticipation and memory presents a series of thought-provoking and humorous essays on airports, museums, landscapes, holiday romances, hotel mini-bars, and master artists, offering suggestions on how to render travel more fulfilling. Reprint. 65,000 first printing.

Bilge Ince

Art cannot single-handedly create enthusiasim nor does it arise from sentiments of which non-artists are devoid; it merely contributes to enthusiasm, and guides us to be more conscious of feelings that we might previously have experienced only tentatively or hurriedly.

But there may be a more profound pleasure: we may value foreign elements not only because they are new, but because they seem to accord more faithfully with our identity and commitments than anything our homeland could provide.

What we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home.

Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places.

Of all modes of transport, the train is perhaps the best aid to thought: the views have none of the potential monotony of those on a ship or plane, they move fast enough for us not to get exasperated but slowly enough to allow us to identify objects.

As someone who travels often and finds deep joy in it, I felt compelled to read this book. It begins and ends in Hammersmith—my own neighbourhood—which may be why I felt myself journeying alongside Alain de Botton to places like Barbados, South America, France, and the Lake District. That experience of travel sparked a period of reflection, prompting me to search for myself through movement. This book subtly reshaped parts of how I see the world; now, I find myself more observant, sketching despite lacking drawing skills, and writing with a more visual lens—to better capture and express the beauty that leaves me in awe.

But there may be a more profound pleasure: we may value foreign elements not only because they are new, but because they seem to accord more faithfully with our identity and commitments than anything our homeland could provide.
…
What we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home.

As someone who travels often and finds deep joy in it, I felt compelled to read this book. It begins and ends in Hammersmith—my own neighbourhood—which may be why I felt myself journeying alongside Alain de Botton to places like Barbados, South America, France, and the Lake District. That experience of travel sparked a period of reflection, prompting me to search for myself through movement. This book subtly reshaped parts of how I see the world; now, I find myself more observant, sketching despite lacking drawing skills, and writing with a more visual lens—to better capture and express the beauty that leaves me in awe.

Of all modes of transport, the train is perhaps the best aid to thought: the views have none of the potential monotony of those on a ship or plane, they move fast enough for us not to get exasperated but slowly enough to allow us to identify objects.

Fabio Bracht

Uma ótima leitura sobre a filosofia de como e por que a gente viaja ou sonha tanto em viajar.

Alain de Botton

This title takes us on a journey through the satisfactions and disappointments of travelling. Dealing with such topics as airports, exotic carpets and mini-bars it reveals the hidden motivations, expectations and complications of our voyages into the wide world.

Jeannette Ordas

When I put this book down, I immediately went to grab a pen and paper and started sketching, noticing and detailing the small things that get lost. This isn't a travel guide but more about what we bring of ourselves into travelling. I did take this out from the library 2 years ago and couldn't get through to the 2nd page. This time I read it all. While some essays are better than others, I'm so glad I stuck it out this time because right now, I really needed this book. Inspiring.

Safiya 

I was certainly in search of something new when I picked this one. At that time, I had the perspective of a calm summer spent in between my hometown and my city. And I decided to go on a literary journey until the pandemic ends, there was no reason for me to enforce the idea of traveling for leisure.
A week later, an urgent meeting emerges and I find myself a fes hours later queueing by the checking counter.
It was a good match, since traveling has always been a great escape for me yet an equal source of anxiety, especially when traveling alone to uncharted territories.
Between what to expect and what to accept all of my waiting time is spent as I wait for my turn to take my on-arrival pcr test.
I find myself every now and then opening this book and finding comfort as it validates all of the emotional turmoil inside. In any other circumstances, it would have been less stressful... But again, traveling obliges us to just accept and surrender to what is happening to you.
To me and according to this book too, we travel to be catapulted in a world full of unexpected possibilities. It's a non-judgemental space in time where, you're an outsider and in no place to enforce your expectations on a wide range of events.
I doubly traveled as I read this book, it was helpful to not feel alone when emotions of dread and fear hit you while for others you should only be happy and excited until you go back home. Social media has had a great impact on this perception as it curates what to show, the same process of simplification or selection happens intrinsically when once back we recount either to ourselves or others what we have seen, heard, smelled and done.
I think this pessimistic point of view is the closest to reality, but it doesn't omit however unrealistically splendid moments one witnesses even in the dullest journey.

Magdalene Lim

I found out about this book when reading an interview with the founder of wego.com, a travel aggregator website. Hit by the travel bug last year, I was keen to read a book that would influence my perspective of travelling and perhaps give me tips on how to be a better traveller.

There are tonnes of Lonely Planet books in the bookstore that cover a multitude of countries and cities but this is such a refreshingly different travel book— the first of its kind I've seen. To be honest, I was not taken in by the first few chapters but as I came to the second half of the book, I enjoyed it quite a bit and started highlighting things I agreed with, or could learn to do. For example, creating word paintings or sketches of things I've seen, to probe deeper and give things the time they deserve.

I like this book because it gave me insight on how to better appreciate the things I see when travelling. I particularly agree with "the notion that the pleasure we derive from a journey may be dependent more on the mind-set we travel with than on the destination we travel to." We could be in our own neighbourhood and still be amazed by what goes on if we look at them with a fresh pair of eyes.

Adam

Short take on enjoying the pleasures of travel.

An exploration of the human desire to travel presents a series of essays on airports, museums, landscapes, holiday romances, and hotel mini-bars, offering suggestions on how to render travel more fulfilling.

Les Reynolds

A bitt challenging to get through, and a bit esoteric sometimes. But he had lots of great thoughts, and reflections on how travel affects us, and how we can get the most out of the time we spend traveling.

The Art of Travel

Reviews

Highlights