到外地旅行——多麼令人興奮的念頭啊！通常，人們會找個氣候怡人的地方，見識有趣的風土民情，欣賞能喚起靈感的景物。然而，為什麼成行之後，卻往往覺得猶有遺憾？ 在本書裡，狄波頓帶領我們踏上旅途，從巴貝多、阿姆斯特丹、普羅旺斯、馬德里到西奈沙漠等地，經歷旅行中種種讓人嚮往與失望之處。 狄波頓還安排了許多位嚮導。他們是大名鼎鼎的作家、藝術家或思想家，也是深諳旅行滋味的行家，如梵谷、華滋華斯、福樓拜、波特萊爾、羅斯金，在書中與我們分享旅行的洞見。 透過這些旅程，狄波頓揭露了旅行中隱藏的慾望和錯綜複雜的面相，挑起無法抵擋的神祕幻想，並且指點我們如何提升旅行的快樂指數，遠離煩悶的日常生活，進入一個奇異世界。

The starting point of How Proust can change your Life is that a great novel can be nothing less than life-transforming. This is an unusual claim: our education system, while stressing that novels are highly worthwhile, rarely investigates why this is so. How Proust can change your Life takes Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time as the basis for a sustained investigation into the power and significance of literature. Proust’s novel, almost a byword for obscurity and irrelevance, emerges as an invaluable source of insight into the workings of love, society, art and the meaning of existence. The book reveals Proust’s thoughts on how to revive a relationship, choose a good doctor, enjoy a holiday, make friends and respond to insult. A vivid portrait of the eccentric yet deeply sympathetic author is built up out of extracts from his letters, essays and fiction and is combined with a commentary on the power of literature to change our lives. A self-help book like few others.(extracted from Alaindebotton.com)

Any Baedeker will tell us where we ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell us how and why. With the same intelligence and insouciant charm he brought to How Proust Can Save Your Life , de Botton considers the pleasures of anticipation; the allure of the exotic, and the value of noticing everything from a seascape in Barbados to the takeoffs at Heathrow. Even as de Botton takes the reader along on his own peregrinations, he also cites such distinguished fellow-travelers as Baudelaire, Wordsworth, Van Gogh, the biologist Alexander von Humboldt, and the 18th-century eccentric Xavier de Maistre, who catalogued the wonders of his bedroom. The Art of Travel is a wise and utterly original book. Don’t leave home without it.

融合理性與感性、細膩生動的戀愛過程全紀錄 如果你曾經愛過或正在愛中，本書必然觸動你的心弦，令你會心微笑。 如果你還沒有戀愛經驗，本書是你的最佳指引，帶你見習這個充滿美麗與哀愁的生命階段。 狄波頓在這本自傳式的小說中，細述一段情緣中的邂逅、迷戀、平凡中的幸福、熟悉後的倦怠、女友移情別戀（很不幸，情敵竟是自己介紹的）、試圖挽回無效、自殺、醒悟，以至於一段情完全成為過去。他認真思辯自己的感覺，忠實記下與女友交往中的各個細節，特別是心理與哲學層面的思考。透過作者觀察入微、瑣碎卻充滿趣味性的描述，我們見證了一段幾乎不朽但畢竟無法脫俗的愛情故事。本書文字生動、處處機鋒、不僅有極大的閱讀樂趣，閱畢更令人回味無窮。

From Publishers Weekly Using drawings, quizzes and quotes from famous philosphers, de Botton presents a postmodern look at the ups and downs of a love affair. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review "The Romantic Movement sheds light on the nature of relationships . . . The method of telling much and showing little produces a good deal of wit, cogency, and humor."--John Updike, The New Yorker "A reader gets whiffs of Donald Barthelme, Julian Barnes, Woody Allen, the films of Eric Rohmer . . . Mr. de Botton borrows exuberantly, and well, from his forebears . . . therein lies the buoyant charm of the approach."--Lisa Zeidner, The New York Times Book Review Review "The Romantic Movement sheds light on the nature of relationships . . . The method of telling much and showing little produces a good deal of wit, cogency, and humor."--John Updike, The New Yorker "A reader gets whiffs of Donald Barthelme, Julian Barnes, Woody Allen, the films of Eric Rohmer . . . Mr. de Botton borrows exuberantly, and well, from his forebears . . . therein lies the buoyant charm of the approach."--Lisa Zeidner, The New York Times Book Review Product Description In The Romantic Movement, Alain de Botton explores the progress of a love affair from first meeting to breaking up, intercut with musings on the nature of art of love. The relationship between Alice, an advertising executive, and Eric, a banker, is examined at every stage, supplemented by quizzes and line drawings by the author and commentary by a chorus of great philosophers, from Descartes to Plato to Aretha Franklin. The Romantic Movement will charm readers and lovers alike with wit, insight, and intelligence.

每個人都嚮往浪漫的愛情，愛莉絲也不例外。 她年輕時髦，卻老是碰上不合適的男人，只好把感情空缺解釋成追求獨立自主；其實，愛莉絲心中對情感有著十分強烈的渴望，嚴重時，常不由自主的在人前落淚，甚至覺得生活了無意義。 所幸艾瑞克適時的出現。他工作高尚、出手大方，英俊的臉上帶著大男孩的笑容。結果，愛莉絲的矜持撐不過一個晚上，即刻成為愛情王國的順民。 雖然在他們親密的關係中充滿驚喜和新鮮的體會，但其中也不乏權力的拉扯，以及日久相處所暴露出的矛盾個性。艾瑞克的自我中心極強，貪享受卻不願承諾；愛莉絲為了浪漫不惜委曲自己，嘗試和對方溝通卻欲言又止。 狄波頓透過這則都會愛情故事，幽默又挖苦的將男女關係的盲點交織在情節中，當讀者深受內容吸引、欲罷不能時，也已同時吸收了這位英倫才子所要傳達的智慧。 這本書曾入圍法國費米娜獎，是狄波頓以戀愛為主題的巔峰造極之作，不論是渴望戀愛或正在戀愛中的人，都必需一讀。