Overview

We all spend longer than we would like waiting around in airports, but we rarely discover anything about our fellow travellers or those who work there. In the summer of 2009, however, Alain de Botton was given unprecedented, unrestricted access to wander around Heathrow, one of the world's biggest airports, having been appointed its Writer-in-Residence. He spoke with everyone from airline staff and senior executives to travellers passing through, and based on these conversations he produced this extraordinary account of life at an airport and what it says about modern existence. Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker, he explores the magical and the mundane, and the stories that inhabit this strange 'non-place' that we are usually eager to leave. Taking the reader through the departures lounge, 'airside' and the arrivals hall, de Botton shows with his usual combination of wit and wisdom that spending time in an airport can be more useful and more revealing than we might think.

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9781743153918

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Reviews

'Funny, charming and slender enough to pack in your carry-on' -- Daily Mail 'I read Alain de Botton's A Week at the Airport with smiles of recognition, nods of approval and sighs of admiration. Most people can't wait to get away from airports. I'm very glad he stayed.' -- Guardian 'You'll read this book with a wry smile. I love the way he sees the airport's security staff as 'like thriller writers ... paid to imagine life as a little more eventful than it customarily manages to be'. For his part, he gives meaning to things most people would see as meaningless - a very useful talent' -- Evening Standard

Author Information

Alain de Botton was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969, was educated at Cambridge, 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 also started and helps to run a school in London called The School of Life, dedicated to a new vision of education. Alain started writing at a young age. His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], was published when he was twenty-three. Nicholas Bell is an English actor who has worked in Australia for more than 20 years. He attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has performed in many theatre productions in London and Australia including Romeo & Juliet. Nicholas' television appearances include Inspector Morse, Frontline, Stingers, Blue Heelers and The Games which won the TV Week Logie for Most Outstanding Comedy Program in 2001. Films Nicholas has appeared in include Mission Impossible, The Craic and Shine.

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