The Art of Travel

This is De Botton’s term for spaces inhabited by those in transit, from the roadside rest stop he visits between London and Manchester to the planes, ships, and trains that travelers use to reach… read analysis of Traveling Places

A European term, now generally considered archaic and often pejorative, that ordinarily denotes all of Asia but has been associated with different nations and regions throughout history. In the mid-1800s, a body of European Orientalist… read analysis of The Orient

That which is both new and valuable. Conventionally, the word is employed by Europeans identifying something that captivates them about non-European cultures, but Alain de Botton also uses it to describe his fascination with Amsterdam. read analysis of The Exotic

Poet William Wordsworth’s term for scenes from nature that people can relive in order to help them gain perspective and overcome problems that they face in their daily lives (and particularly issues like frustrations… read analysis of Spots of Time

John Ruskin’s term for the linguistic counterpart to drawing, word-painting allows viewers to capture the psychological impact that a beautiful scene or object has on them and hopefully notice the aesthetic reasons they find… read analysis of Word-Painting

Developing an aesthetic means gaining the “capacity to assert judgments about beauty and ugliness.” For de Botton, art and travel are valuable in large part because they allow individuals to notice what they find… read analysis of Aesthetic

De Botton’s term for the way that travelers approach new places with a receptiveness to the environment and a humility before foreign cultures and unexpected phenomena. He argues that this mind-set, rather than simply… read analysis of Traveling Mind-Set