Alain de Botton
Alain de Botton, FRSL (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British philosopher and author. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published "Essays in Love" (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include "How Proust Can Change Your Life" (1997), "Status Anxiety" (2004) and "The Architecture of Happiness" (2006).
Religion for Atheists
Critical reception of the book has been mixed. It was the most-reviewed book of the week in January 2012, according to The Bookseller. David Brooks finds that the book makes atheism "kind of boring", like a "spiritual handicap". Terry Eagleton describes the book as an attempt to "hijack other people's beliefs, empty them of content and redeploy them in the name of moral order, social consensus and aesthetic pleasure". Angus Wood says that De Botton's proposed solutions feel "trite or feel crassly commercial", and that transferring the authoritarian methods of religion to a secular world looks "like indoctrination". Martha Gill, after reading Religion for Atheists, feels that "as a spiritual guide, de Botton offers as much opportunity for growth as a hard-boiled egg". Joe Winkler recommends A.C. Grayling's "The Good Book", "The Joys of Secularism", and Bertrand Russell's "A Free Man's Worship" over this book. Winkler finds the omission of positive psychology confusing in the book, and criticises De Botton's assumption that "because the mechanics used in a religious setting work, and have worked for thousands of years, they will work in a secular setting", and describes this assumption as naive at best and "slightly totalitarian" at worst. Despite his criticisms, Winkler recommends Religion for Atheists because he finds the book eloquent and thought-provoking. Christopher Hirst writes of the book: "De Botton has reduced religion to a mechanism", and describes the tone of the book as "bossy, but readable". James Croft describes the book as having a lack of balance, and under-valuing the achievements of humanity.
Barney Zwartz says "De Botton selects areas of need - community, kindness, education, tenderness, perspective, architecture and art - and draws out detailed, practical lessons." José Teodoro suggests the book is "subtly condescending in the way it demands that everything in our shared environment constantly remind us that we’re not alone in our anxieties and disappointments". The Economist, in a comparison with Roger Scruton's "The Face of God", writes that de Botton "often stretches a good idea beyond its elastic limit". John Armstrong regards this book as not being part of 'militant Atheism', not arguing whether religion is true or not, but looking at its effects in people's daily lives.
Stephen Cave, writing for the Financial Times regards a theme of "Religion for Atheists" to be "we are less grown-up than liberal societies assume we are and frequently in need of guidance, reassurance and tenderness". Richard Holloway, writing for the Literary Review notes that when examining the purpose of religion in life, "Along the way he rethinks the nature and purpose of higher education and national cultural policy." and feels that the audience of the book is "a lot of uneasy believers [who] will welcome it like a well of water in a dry place". Marc Mohan suggests that an "ideal reader" of this book would be a religious person who doubts, but is hesitant to stop being religious because they fear that a life without religion is a life without ethics. The Telegraph's Tom Payne writes that the author continues from Ovid's assertion on the utility of gods: "It’s useful that there are gods, and that’s why we believe in them". According to Payne, De Botton argues that religion provides useful boundaries, in addition to inspiring a sense of awe. Payne praises De Botton's prose and charm, but notes that De Botton seems to find libertarianism distasteful. Payne describes the book as being both prescriptive and optimistic, but sums it up in the book's central premise - the hope that religion can be made to 'really suit us'. Charles Moore, writing for The Telegraph, states that De Botton's purpose in the book is to study religions and learn from them. Moore states that De Botton "has an instinctively religious grasp of the power of paradox" in that the concept of original sin is depicted in the book as "comforting". Moore suggests that De Botton knows that his suggested secular solutions to the problems of life are "mostly a bit silly", and notes that while De Botton discusses failed attempts at secular religion, like August De Comte's, De Botton 'does not seem to ask himself why' they failed. For Moore, religious 'uses' come from the 'truth' at the heart of religions, and De Botton does not recognise this.