“All tours are filled with humiliation. My publisher once hired a private jet to fly me to a venue where 1,000 people were waiting. It almost bankrupted him.”

Swiss philosopher and writer of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, de Botton blends psychology, philosophy, and pop culture to explore human behavior and relationships. His work—including *The Consolations of Philosophy* and *Status Anxiety*—examines how we navigate love, art, and social expectations with wit and clarity.