The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton

The Arte of Travel, Alain de Botton
Ojo Critico / Personal Rating: 3/5
Leido / Red: January 2008

I've read much of what Mr. de Botton has written in the last few months. This book in particular is not among my favorites. These essays lack the coherence (and maybe earnestnest) of his other books.

Travel is here presented as a State-of-Mind: you can enjoy it as much in your imagination as in actual experience. "The imagination can provide a more-than-adequate substitute for the vulgar reality of actual experience."

As other artists and philosophers in History (De botton seem ver aprtial to Gustave Flaubert and Frederick Nietzche), we are advised to take from our travels more out of our imafgination and inspiration than actual experience.

The major conclusion I got from this reading is that, while traveling, search for what will open your mind to other realities and perceptions, which is a more authentic representation of experience.