Alain de Botton: The Art of Travel
Alain de Botton is one of those names I’ve been aware of for a few years now, have noted the TV series and the book tie-ins (or so I thought) but have never paid attention to. This changed after I saw him appear either on a celebrity quiz show or some political program and I realised I enjoyed his style.
A few weeks later I found myself in a branch of Borders waiting for my brother as he hunted for a book. Becoming bored, I began to browse idly in the travel section and discovered before me The Art of Travel. I picked up a copy and started to read the first chapter (my brother is not the fastest person while looking for something) and decided after a few pages to buy it.
It’s not a large book, being approximately 7”x5” and around 260 pages long, but it’s printed on good quality gloss paper, so it’s fairly weighty. There are a number of plates (ahem, images) per chapter which as used to illustrate an area or point referred to. These are sadly all black and white, but none the less welcome for it. The size allowed it to slip easily into my jacket pocket which is probably why I started carrying it around with me, grabbing a spare ten minutes in a coffee house, on a park bench, wherever I happened to be able to sit without too much distraction. This is not something I do often and I have to say, it did enhance my enjoyment of the book. I think that’s what they call a “spoiler”…
On to the book contents, in theory the reason you would actually buy it. A quick overview of the contents will show you that de Botton has split the book into a small number of logical sections based around the departure, motives, landscape, art and returning. Each of these has two chapters apart from the return which is a single closing element. The use of a specific location and person per chapter allows a consistent reading which can guide you through the book without jumping between person A, B and C across the various chapters.
de Botton has a fairly light style of writing which can be deceptively simple, ensuring it is easy to read for those who simply want to enjoy his musings and go “oh yeah!” periodically as they recognise something they have done or experienced themselves. However, deceptive is exactly what it is. Read a little more carefully and the quantity and quality of sociological and philosophical sections are plain, allowing some much deeper thought into the what, why, where and who of the figure he has chosen as your guide for that chapter.
“There was, apart from the motorway, no road linking the service station to other places, no footpath even; it seemed not to belong to the city, nor to the country either, but rather to some third, travellers’ realm, like a lighthouse at the edge of the ocean.” is the start of the simple but provoking way de Botton describes a service station on the motorway between London and Manchester. In the same chapter he introduces the work of Edward Hopper, an American artist who spent much of his time painting fairly uninteresting scenes… on first sight. I have to admit to not having seen much to interest me in the few paintings presented in the book until I had read the thought behind them. I have since purchased a book cataloguing much of Hopper’s work and can no longer understand having so little interest, so thanks Alain!
Overall, I rate this book very highly. It can either be a simple, quick, enjoyable read or a much more in-depth work deserving of your time. You get to decide and without the feeling you’re cheating yourself whichever you go for. Buy it, read it, then let me know if you agree.
I have now purchased “How Proust can change your Life” and “The Architecture of Happiness” on the strength of this one and have a ticket to listen to de Botton talk at the 2006 Edinburgh International Book Festival. They have a lot to live up to.
