Curiously practical—this no-nonsense blend of literary biography and self-help unravels how interesting life can be if only you could resist the impulse to rush through the mundane rituals of modern life. Every morning, Marcel Proust sipped his two cups of strong coffee with milk, ate a croissant from one boulangerie, dunking it in his coffee as he slowly read the day’s paper with great care—poring over each headline and section.
Only Alain de Botton could have pulled so many useful insights from the oeuvre of one the world’s greatest literary masters. Fascinating and vital, How to Take Your Time will urge you to find the wisdom in defying “the self-satisfaction felt by ‘busy’ men—however idiotic their business—at ‘not having time’ to do what you are doing.”
A Vintage Shorts Wellness selection. An ebook short.
Praise for Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life “Ingenious…charming, erudite…an amusing homage to a literary genius whose utter lack of talent for living becomes a tender inspiration.” --Elle
"Delightfully original.... As well as being criticism, biography, literary history and a reader's guide to Proust's masterpiece, How Proust Can Change Your Life is a self-help book in the deepest sense of the term." --The New York Times
"Curious, humorous, didactic and dazzling.... It contains more human interest and play of fancy than most fiction." --The New Yorker
“A witty, elegant book that helps us learn what reading is for.” --Doris Lessing
Curiously practical—this no-nonsense blend of literary biography and self-help unravels how interesting life can be if only you could resist the impulse to rush through the mundane rituals of modern life. Every morning, Marcel Proust sipped his two cups of strong coffee with milk, ate a croissant from one boulangerie, dunking it in his coffee as he slowly read the day’s paper with great care—poring over each headline and section.
Only Alain de Botton could have pulled so many useful insights from the oeuvre of one the world’s greatest literary masters. Fascinating and vital, How to Take Your Time will urge you to find the wisdom in defying “the self-satisfaction felt by ‘busy’ men—however idiotic their business—at ‘not having time’ to do what you are doing.”
A Vintage Shorts Wellness selection. An ebook short.
Praise
Praise for Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life “Ingenious…charming, erudite…an amusing homage to a literary genius whose utter lack of talent for living becomes a tender inspiration.” --Elle
"Delightfully original.... As well as being criticism, biography, literary history and a reader's guide to Proust's masterpiece, How Proust Can Change Your Life is a self-help book in the deepest sense of the term." --The New York Times
"Curious, humorous, didactic and dazzling.... It contains more human interest and play of fancy than most fiction." --The New Yorker
“A witty, elegant book that helps us learn what reading is for.” --Doris Lessing
