All you need to know about Alain de Botton is that he's a self-help guru. What I like about his writings is that they elucidate a position which you realize is

All you need to know about Alain de Botton is that he's a self-help guru. What I like about his writings is that they elucidate a position which you realize is either completely obvious or probably nonsense, and there you have a jumping off point to figure things out for yourself.