Project Credits

Alain de Botton (b.1969) is the author of bestselling books in more than 30 countries, including The Consolations of Philosophy, How Proust Can Change Your Life, Status Anxiety, and, most recently, Religion for Atheists. He founded The School of Life in London in 2008, which supplies good ideas for everyday life in the form of courses, classes, workshops and talks. In 2009 he founded Living Architecture, which aims to make high-quality architecture accessible to everyone. www.alaindebotton.com

The School of Life is a cultural enterprise that aims to foster emotional intelligence through teachings from the humanities (literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, history and art). It is based in a variety of locations around the world, and offers books, products and courses for sale online. For more, see www.theschooloflife.com

About 'The News: A User's Manual'

The site was put together to accompany a book titled The News written by Alain de Botton.

The news is everywhere and we check it constantly - but what is it doing to our minds?

The news occupies the same dominant position in modern society as religion once did, but we rarely consider its impact on us. In this new book, Alain de Botton, the bestselling author of Religion for Atheists, takes twenty-five archetypal news stories - from an aircrash to a murder, a celebrity interview to a political scandal - and submits them to unusually intense analysis.

He raises questions like: How come disaster stories are often so uplifting? What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting? Why do we enjoy politicians being brought down? Why are upheavals in far off lands often so . . . boring?

De Botton has written the ultimate manual for our news-addicted age, one sure to bring calm, understanding and a measure of sanity to our daily (and sometimes even hourly) interactions with the news machine.

To buy the book, click here for the US/World edition, and here for the UK/EU/Australian edition.