Alain de Botton，英伦著名作家，我自己非常喜欢的一位作家，去年（2014）看过的他的若干本，其中的《The Art of Travel》（旅行的艺术）, 《Religion for Atheists》（写给无神论者），《The Consolation of Philosophy》(哲学的慰藉)，皆是文笔优美，能从新角度启发，并引人深思的佳作。
这本书是关于信息的。有没有偶尔觉得，这个小时代里，打开手机，微信、G+等，有点被各方面的信息淹没，无法有效的从中提取出好文，好好消化，体会，汲取养分 － 而这，正是阅读（手机，报纸，杂志）的最大目的。德波顿的这本册子，说的就是如何阅读各类新闻时事，如何三观正确的看待，并正确回馈自己的方法。最喜欢的下面几段的论述。
关于Envy
好了，每人周围都有自己熟悉的朋友，亲友，他们和你差不多年纪，或者比你跟年轻，当你反复能从各种媒介中听到他们的成功（开发了影响大多数人的产品，创立引领了自己的公司，上市融资等等）故事时，作者提出了2个问题，一你如何做想，二你如何思考，又如何反过来影响自己？
第一，你如何想？不要不好意思承认，envy or a little bit crazy 是会有一点的，对不？正常，再正常不过了 － 作者说道 － It should admit that it takes an exceptionally unimaginative person to read of someone of their own age who has bought and sold businesses, consorted with the mighty and attracted the attention of millions - and in response, experience only a broad and serene pleasure without being driven a little crazy as a result.
而且适度可控的envy，一旦你理解后，是有益处的 － It is a call to action that should be heeded, for it contains garbled messages sent by muddled but important parts of our personalities about what we should be doing with the rest of our lives. Listening to envy should help us to take painful yet necessary steps towards becoming who we really are.第二，该如何思考，从而正面影响自己呢？作者说 － 不必过分压抑自己的envy，而是应当问自己 “what should I learn from here?” 擦这不是老生常谈吗？没结束呢 － We start to envy certain individuals in their entirety, when in fact, if we took a moment to analyze their lives calmly, we would realize that it is only a small part of what they have done that really resonates with, and should guide, our own next steps. 也就是说，成功的因素，常常是他们身上小小的一部分，找出他们身上的这一两个光亮点，具体化，再学习之，而不是空空的泛泛的说“向他们学习”。
那最后呢，还是会要安慰安稳一下读者们 －
While the supplements may be continuously filled with success stories, success itself will always remain highly anomalous, achieved by no more than a few thousand out of many millions - a detail that the editors of the news carefully (and sadistically) keep carefully out of our imaginations. We shouldn’t lament our own condition just because it doesn’t measure up against a deeply unrealistic benchmark, or hate ourselves solely for our inability to defy some breathtaking odds.
关于Tragedy
新闻报道中，几乎隔几天就会有tragedy的报道，说它低品位也好，博眼球也好，那我们能从中找寻出哪些有意义，有价值的东西呢？
古希腊时期，每个三月底，城邦民众都会聚集在Acropolis (雅典卫城）的Theatre of Dionysus听故事，那是什么故事呢 － 悲剧故事！这些故事无论哪个都可冠以血腥，暴力，反人伦，放在今天，绝对可以做“头条”的。比如弑父，娶母，自残（俄狄浦斯）；比如弑女复仇（Iphigenia）；比如母杀二子留夫（Medea），等等。问题来了，希腊人怎么这么变态？爱听这些。
那时的大智人，亚里士多德，如此描述悲剧对于民众教化的力量 －Tragedy’s power is to demonstrate the ease with which an essentially decent and likable person could end up generating hell。。。They are crucial resources for the emotional and moral education of a whole society
一部优秀的悲剧作品（the plot should be well arranged and the motives and the personalities of the characters properly outlined to us）在民众面前一步步展示它的发展轨迹 － 常人／凡人／凡事是如何一步步滑向地狱的 － 而观众在最后不由自主的一句 － “What, how easily I, too, might done the same!” 则是悲剧教化效果的最好实证。
所以，tragedy，警世钟也！
关于Culture
新闻报道中，也时常会有关于文化，艺术的报道，那这类报道有什么用呢？那艺术又有什么具体作用呢？作者给出这段描述 －
Art is a tool to help us with a number of psychological frailties which we would otherwise have trouble handling: our inability to understand ourselves, to laugh sagely at our faults, to empathize with and forgive others, to accept the inevitability of suffering without falling prey to a sense of persecution, to remain tolerably hopeful, to appreciate the beauty of the everyday and to prepare adequately of death.
在人类历史已有并且还在不断扩大的浩瀚的艺术，文学宝库中，总有一些，会给你心灵的帮助，会是一剂良药，就像作者说的 －
… art delivers its healing power, offering us, for example, a poetry book that delineates an emotion we had long felt but never understood, a comedy that shakes us from self-righteous indignation, an album that gives us a soundtrack of hope, a play that turns horror into tragedy, a film that charts a saner path through the difficulties of love or painting that invites us to a more gracious acceptance of age and disease.
最后再赞一次，作者文笔之优美，完全感觉不到他是在讲述一个道理，却是像在读一本散文。以上英语句子，（基本）都是原文，从中摘抄，虽然少了上下文的支撑，却也一眼就能看出文字的优美、力量。
