Sunday, October 22, 2006

Is Alain de Botton talking about you?

If you are reading this blog you almost certainly have some interest in books. I'm inclined to believe that your interest--in books in general, not (necessarily) in this blog--indicates something positive about your character.

The writer Alain de Botton is slightly more skeptical about all that. For example:
There's a classic category of melancholic adolescents who are overly drawn to literature: they become journalists, academics, publishers, and it's a melancholic slice of society.

....

My greatest hope for my son is that I bring him up so that he doesn't feel the need for poetry, for philosophy, that I felt as an adolescent - that he's more at home in the world without the mediation of books.
For other observations that fall under the heading of "This much I know" by Alain de Botton, click here.

Last week I ran an item on a list of books mentioned by the writer; click here to read it.

--Marshal Zeringue