De Botton's 'The Art of Travel'

Time for a book recommendation. It's been a while since there was one of those around here, which sadly reflects the fact that I find it very hard to find time for non-academic reading these days.

Alain de Botton is regarded as something of a 'public philosopher', and it's not at all rare to see his books in the philosophy shelves at bookshops. But my attraction to his The Art of Travel wasn't related to this -- predictably enough, the relation to travel was what attracted me. A good description of the book's aim is found in the blurb: "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." In actuality that's a bit of an exaggeration of what we find in the book (what? a blurb exaggerating? never!) -- what we really find is a set of reflections on different aspects of travelling, all the way from anticipation through to returning.

For those of us who already have the travel bug, the book provides an interesting new way of looking at an existing hobby. The two opening chapters, the first on anticipation and the second on the physical act of travelling, particularly resonated with my experience whilst also providing a new perspective on things. It was an accident that I read this book before, during and after my recent trip to Switzerland, but it was a happy accident -- reflecting on the art of travel whilst simultaneously engaging in it was a pretty rewarding experience. For those who don't already have the inclination to travel, I suspect it would have one of two effects: either increasing your desire to travel, or cementing your feeling that it's not for you by reminding you of all the things you dislike about the idea already!

I found the chapters on art and on 'the sublime' less engaging than the others, and the chapter on beauty a bit quaint in the light of the aesthetics that I'm subjected to in the day-to-day, but this just highlights that this is the kind of book where the amount you get out of the chapters will depend on how you already think of the issues at hand. It's not a book telling you facts but rather presenting a perspective on human experience; a kind of book that I sadly seldom read.

If you have no interest whatsoever in travel, this book probably isn't worth your time. But if you do, either because you already engage in it or because you'd like to, then I'd be surprised if you get through the 250-odd pages here without finding several interesting thoughts and quotes that will stay with you throughout your thinking, planning and reflecting on your own travelling.

Speaking of which, I'm in the process of planning an Easter trip to Macedonia...