Matters of Status

The other book I read in KL (cover to cover, in this case) was Alain de Botton's Status Anxiety. I'd previously read his The Consolations of Philosophy and enjoyed it, though I did feel a bit puzzled about the surrounding hype. Readable, certainly, but hardly earth-shattering in terms of content. But now I see that this is part of the attraction. Both books are supremely accessible. They take ideas that could easily be over-complicated and explore them in a simple and straightforward manner that is most engaging, especially in terms of the sheer approachability of the writer. He sounds pretty much like one of us, keen to learn useful lessons from those who have something to teach and keen to show us exactly how they might be applied to our difficult lives. I suppose this is a branch of 'self-help' literature, but in this case genuinely helpful in getting us beyond considerations of self. Certainly I recognised much of myself in Status Anxiety, which is odd really since a few years back I think I would have said that status meant little or nothing to me. Most of all it's the corrosive nature of envy, regarding which de Botton is spot on, that has become unpleasantly familiar to some of my thoughts, some of the time. And that some is too much.