Meet our speakers, who are active leaders in the T.I.M.E. (Technology, Information, Media, Entertainment) areas.
Alain de Botton
Philosopher & Writer, <Essays in Love, Architecture of Happiness> /
Founder, The School of Life & Living Architecture
Alain de Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969 and now lives in London. He is a writer of essayistic books that have been described as a 'philosophy of everyday life.' He’s written on love, travel, architecture and literature. His books have been bestsellers in 30 countries.
Alain started writing at a young age, publishing his first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], when he was 23. It was followed by How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy, which were at heart attempts to develop original ideas (about, for example, friendship, art, envy, desire and inadequacy) with the help of the thoughts from other thinkers – an approach that would have been familiar to writers like Seneca or Montaigne and that disappeared only with the growing professionalisation of scholarship in the 19th century.
His more recent works include The Art of Travel, Status Anxiety, The Architecture of Happiness and The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, through which he continued to ask questions on how to make our lives more meaningful and provide gripping analysis packed with novel ideas. His latest book titled Religion for Atheists was published in 2011/2012.
Alain started and helps to run a school in London called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Alain also continues his work with the architectural organisation he has founded, Living Architecture, which aims to give everyone access to the work of some of the greatest architects in the world.
Alain started writing at a young age, publishing his first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], when he was 23. It was followed by How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy, which were at heart attempts to develop original ideas (about, for example, friendship, art, envy, desire and inadequacy) with the help of the thoughts from other thinkers – an approach that would have been familiar to writers like Seneca or Montaigne and that disappeared only with the growing professionalisation of scholarship in the 19th century.
His more recent works include The Art of Travel, Status Anxiety, The Architecture of Happiness and The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, through which he continued to ask questions on how to make our lives more meaningful and provide gripping analysis packed with novel ideas. His latest book titled Religion for Atheists was published in 2011/2012.
Alain started and helps to run a school in London called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Alain also continues his work with the architectural organisation he has founded, Living Architecture, which aims to give everyone access to the work of some of the greatest architects in the world.