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A review by almartin
Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain de Botton
1.0
frrt. First 160 pages are a great summary of de Botton's TED Talk on the same subject, and a worthy sequel to [b:The Consolations of Philosophy|23419|The Consolations of Philosophy|Alain de Botton|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320528869s/23419.jpg|14280291] - talky, earnest, good-hearted, with de Botton doing his patented upmarket, erudite self-help thing. His message:
patience, humility, community, or trips out of the city to look at the stars on clear summer nights. These are all good ideas, and de Botton's light touch on these questions is peerless.
The remainder of this one, though, is a total mess - to the point where I began to wonder if the last chapter, 'Institutions', was some sort of mean-spirited joke at the expense of the reader; an exercise to see how many people he could get to nod uncritically at such howlers as
Secular society has been unfairly impoverished by the loss of an array of practices and themes which atheists typically find it impossible to live with because they seem too closely associated with, to quote Nietzsche's useful phrase, 'the bad odours of religion'.is, as far as it goes, is a useful corrective to some of the particularly strident brickbats that have been lobbed at the general concept of faith. I'm all for secular pilgrimages to Yosemite Valley,
patience, humility, community, or trips out of the city to look at the stars on clear summer nights. These are all good ideas, and de Botton's light touch on these questions is peerless.The remainder of this one, though, is a total mess - to the point where I began to wonder if the last chapter, 'Institutions', was some sort of mean-spirited joke at the expense of the reader; an exercise to see how many people he could get to nod uncritically at such howlers as
"It is a failing of historic proportions, for instance, that BMW's concern for rigour and precision has ended so conclusively at the bumpers of its cars rather than stretching to the founding of...a political party, or that Giorgio Armani's eponymous corporation has determinedly skirted the possibility of running a therapy unit or liberal arts college."The experience is a lot like reading a brash, half-baked philosophy paper by a particularly clever undergraduate who has found himself way over his skis as he reaches the turn toward the big 'so what' conclusion. If that's your bag, by all means. But for me, the conclusion - where de Botton feels compelled to explain why his proposals don't constitute a deranged personality cult - speaks volumes.