Status Anxiety

By: Alain de Botton

Narrated by: Simon Vance

This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned: an anxiety about what others think of us, about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. Best-selling author Alain de Botton asks, with lucidity and charm, where our worries about status come from and what, if anything, we can do to surmount them. With the help of philosophers, artists, and writers, he examines the origins of status anxiety before revealing ingenious ways in which people have been able to overcome their worries in the search for happiness. We learn about sandal-less philosophers and topless bohemians, about the benefits of putting skulls on our sideboards, and about looking at ancient ruins. The result is a book that is not only highly entertaining and thought-provoking but genuinely wise and helpful, too.©2004 Alain de Botton (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"A smart and amusing inquiry....Thick with social history and as funny as [it is] acute." (Boston Globe)
"His richest, funniest, most heartfelt work yet, packed with erudition and brimming with an elegant originality of mind....An informative joy to read." (Seattle Times)

A thoughtful gloss

This is a nice gloss of the subject. It is thoughtful book and worth listening to.

A succinct overview of a common obsession

In the US as nowhere else, social climbing and social anxiety about about status and "getting ahead" is prominent. Even the dominant religion of Christianity has morphed into the Prosperity Gospel, seeing success and status as rewards for good moral character. The more reminders we have that this hierarchy is arbitrary and not all it's cracked up to be psychologically and emotionally, the better. Botton does us a great service with this nice little book which gives us several alternatives to the current obsession with status.

something no one talks about

This is the rare sample of a book which had me engrossed as an audiobook, which I wouldn't have gotten through if it was on paper. Presented as nearly an academic treatise, the book is filled with data and great anecdotes supporting his points. I've been highly recommending it to everyone I know, as it makes you think about the things we strive for every day, and makes you understand why they feel worth so much sacrifice.

But it's not just a thoughtful, serious work -- it also kept me engaged with many amusing stories. I'm going to buy everything else he's written!

A book about one of society's worst diseases

This is a beautifully written and narrated book about how and why much of society is so obsessed with status and why status and material wealth are now widely considered to be the same. I wasn't expecting but welcomed the sociology history lesson(there's quite a bit of it). The author describes himself as secular but I didn't find any notable criticism of religion or Christianity (maybe because I'm secular myself?). Check out the author's 15 minute talk on the TED Talks website for a preview of this book...

Common Sense Book........

Comment Sense information. I was not completely enthralled by this book. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

If everybody wrote like this I would read more.

I gushed about de Botton in another review, so I'll skip it and just say how good this book is. It's thought provoking, smart, funny, educational... but mostly just a good "listen". It made me re-think that 14kt grill and pinkie ring too - whew!

Very good!

A very good philosophical overview of the meaning of status and the human aspiration for 'more'. Very good indeed! Z

Loved it!

The book was both informative and entertaining. And really insightful on the human condition. The narrator was excellent and added much to my enjoyment of the book. I recommend giving it a listen. It opened my eyes to lots of my motivations and failings.

Second favourite book I've ever read

I've listened through about 4 times. Super insightful, and encouraging to anyone who is knocked down everyday with the bat that is system of materialism and discontent. I also appreciated the acknowledgement of Christian roots in Bohemia (in our often millitantly secular culture). I'll no doubt listen again in 6 months when I need smelling salts to wake me from the hypnosis that is status anxiety.

Status Quo

After reading about the different social classes, I got one very important thing out of it. As reader of the classics, like All Quiet on the Western Front, Brave New World, the explanation of Jane Austen's writing and how the classic almost always have the same pattern, makes sense..

Totally worth the read. It explains a lot of the status quo.