so-soThis was a really eye opening book! I learned a lot from it and was able to look inward and examine my own status anxiety. I wish the book was not so Catholic/Eurocentric, there is so much to learn from Eastern and Indigenous cultures about status.
I‘m finally able to get past de Botton‘s structural foibles—the man drops pictures, diagrams, and numbers wherever he wants in a serious text—and am managing to understand and ponder his points!
This is as close to #philosophy as I think I‘ll get, ever since college put me off.
It‘s useful to think about how we attach #moral #merit to #economic status to #happiness, and how it‘s only been 250 years! I hope things evolve again, and soon.
#status
The price we have paid for expecting to be so much more than our #ancestors is a perpetual #anxiety that we are far from being all we might be.
I struggle with #deBotton‘s #structure every time I‘m intrigued by his thesis, but this time I finally pushed through/was in the right frame of mind to plough through the weird #d paragraphs and absorb the message.
A very important one about why we are unhappy—also perhaps a way out of #climatecrisis?!
pickAs written in the title, this book only has the key insights compressed to about 25 pages. It did not fail however to create the philosophical arguments on how and why there is status anxiety and what we can do about it.
pickExcellent book, has a very strong message, very influential, must-read!
I normally loathe self-help books, but I think this is something I really need to address
I just finished section 2: Time Passes and for the first time since starting the book I have really enjoyed a section. Beautiful writing and very profound. I did not really enjoy section 1 at all. #lighthouse #status
It's always refreshing to see that Harry puts a higher value on character, loyalty, and friendship than on #status or celebrity. Way to stick with Luna & Neville, Harry. Such a contrast to Slughorn, who values others for their status & connections (or their potential for either). Also, I'd totally forgotten that the chapter-opening illustration features Neville's butt sticking out from under the seat as he looks for his toad... 😂#hpchapteraday
Let's think about this fellow's name - slug. Rowling used the Snake as a symbol for evil, but to employ this lowly insignificant creature says something about Horace's character. But he's just frightened, and when you've been proud and loud about who you've helped, well, that might come back to bite you...to use a recent phrase, at this point, Slughorn is attempting to rewrite his own narrative.
#hpchapteraday #booksix #hbp #chapterseven #status
#hpchapteraday High school is a time when #status can become a big preoccupation. We see that many don't think Luna & Neville have the right status to be Harry's friends, that Slughorn starts collecting potential high status students before even getting to Hogwarts, & Malfoy thinks current status will be bunk under Voldemort-there will be a whole new criteria for who has status & who doesn't. What I find perfect is Harry's disregard for status...
