Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 philosophical rather than anecdotal June 27, 2010
FE HALL
Having heard about this I anticipated a good read but felt disappointed. I found it more philosophical than anything else. I was hoping for something that gave more of an insight of life at the airport through stories from the workers there. There were a few but a lot less than I thought there would be.
 Unusual and interesting guide to Heathrow Airport January 3, 2010
Matthew Culley (England, UK)
I liked this book. It is the third book on Heathrow in my possession. The other two are the Airlife guide to Heathow, essentially a photo-guide to the great place and Jeremy Spake's delightful and homely "Jeremy's Airport", based on his time during the BBC docu-drama "The Airport". It is also my first De Botton book. The author is a philosopher / writer who seems particularly interested in the philosophy of travel. The author was invited to spend a week as "writer in residence" in the new Terminal 5 building during the summer of 2009. The book may be something of a surprise to those who normally buy books about airports / aircraft. We are taken on a journey from arrivals to departures to airside and finally to arrivals. On the way we meet staff and travellers, and learn something of their story. Amongst the people in the book is Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways. Rather than discussing the problems with BA at the time of writing, the author and Mr Walsh discuss aircraft, and this is fantastic. Mr De Botton deserves credit for this. There are plenty of reflections - some sad, some funny, but one does learn something of the operation of one of the World's most well-known airports.
The photography in the book is good. A photograph on each page enhances the text and gives a good rendering of Terminal 5 life. All in all it is a very decent book, although a tad expensive (the reason why I gave it 4 rather than 5 stars). It should please airport / transport buffs, and is interesting enough for the general reader. I will certainly look to read more of Mr De Botton's work.
Wonderful little book December 26, 2009
Saul Richman (Switzerland ex-Manchester)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Firstly, it was very kind of Alain to dedicate this book personally to me. Thanks Alain! :-)
I review this as someone who's spent nearly 25 years working at airports and flown 1200 times. So, I'm biased, but I loved this book because:
1. de Botton made me stop and think about airport and travel scenarious that I'd never considered before e.g. the children's toys in the Immigration Detention Interview Room, or that moment when you open the door for Hotel Room Service naked except for that ubiquitous white 5* dressing gown.
2. It's short yet perfectly concise. No sentence is uninteresting - Jan Morris' words and so true, I re-read the whole book after completing an initial read.
Flying soon?
Buy this book now and enjoy observing the Airports you pass through from a completely new perspective.
 A little gem of a book December 13, 2009
S. Ahmad (Surrey, UK)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
For the price of a bottle of bog standard wine, this charming book will make you
reflect on modern life and see things from a different angle. Not having read any of Alain de Botton's books, I found his low-key, idiosyncratic style much to my liking. Short vignettes of different aspects of daily life in an airport, accompanied by his own thoughts, are presented with a dry humour and often a certain irony - he lets his subjects and observations speak for themselves - and as a result, elicits from the reader the whole gamut of emotions: sadness, shock, amazement, sarcasm, disbelief, etc. And all this from the most unlikely of subjects - an airport! It reminds me of the Court Jester, who in days of old would poke fun at and make jokes at the King's expense (by pretending to be a simpleton and fool he avoided having his head chopped off) which presented a different and may be more balanced view of life to that which the King was accustomed to hearing, surrounded as he was by the insincere flattery and yes-men of his Court. So does Alain de Botton make you question the very existence of your modern life by giving you a different 'take' on something you normally wouldn't give a second thought to.
Brilliant! December 10, 2009
Alison (Derbyshire, UK)
This is my first experience of Alain de Botton's writing and after devouring this book in less than 2 hours (partly due to it's brevity and partly because I enjoyed it so much) I'll be looking to read more of his work.
I'm probably a little unusual in that I love airports and attempt to arrive much earlier than is really necessary so I can get airside as soon as possible and begin to immerse myself in the world of the terminal. I've never been to terminal 5 but the world that de Botton describes could be any large airport terminal; it feels very familiar.
I loved de Botton's perceptive writing and his incisive and insightful look at the lifeblood of the airport. The book is funny, interesting and very engaging. He meets a variety of people and captures their essence in a few short words; impressive observational writing. The photographs by Richard Baker make the book and it wouldn't be as good or feel as complete without them.
This little book is thoroughly enjoyable for the high quality writing and high quality photography. It's one of my favourite books read this year and I'll be getting The Art of Travel soon!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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