The Architecture of Happiness - Literature Review

http://www.alaindebotton.com/pages/about/contact.asp?PageID=106

One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kind of walls, chairs, buildings and streets we’re surrounded by.And yet a concern for architecture and design is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. The Architecture of Happiness starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be - and argues that it is architecture’s task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.Whereas many architects are wary of openly discussing the word beauty, the book has at its centre the large and naïve question: ‘What is a beautiful building?’ It amounts to a tour through the philosophy and psychology of architecture, which aims to change the way we think about our homes, streets and ourselves.

Alain de Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and now lives in London.

He is a writer of essayistic books, which refer both to his own experiences and ideas- and those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. It's a style of writing that has been termed a 'philosophy of everyday life.' His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], minutely analysed the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book was unusual, because it mixed elements of a novel together with reflections and analyses normally found in a piece of non-fiction. It's a book of which many readers are still fondest.

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For all questions regarding rights & permissions in the US, contact literary agent Nicole Aragi, 143 West 27th Street, #4F, New York NY, 10001, tel: 212 675 8353, email: queries@aragi.net, fax: 1800 854 7759 (domestic), fax: 206 374 6460 (international)
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