Alain de Botton's "The Art of Travel" isn't your average travel guide. If you've ever felt that traveling was more than stamping your passport, this book is a thoughtful companion. It intertwines philosophy, literature, and art to dive deep into the reasons behind why we travel and what we can truly gain from it. Through this insightful exploration, you might just discover a new way of seeing your journeys, making them richer and more fulfilling.

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• Prix européen de l’essai Charles Veillon (2003)

Any Baedeker will tell us where we ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell us how and why. With the same intelligence and insouciant charm he brought to How Proust Can Save Your Life, de Botton considers the pleasures of anticipation; the allure of the exotic, and the value of noticing everything from a seascape in Barbados to the takeoffs at Heathrow. Even as de Botton takes the reader along on his own peregrinations, he also cites such distinguished fellow-travelers as Baudelaire, Wordsworth, Van Gogh, the biologist Alexander von Humboldt, and the 18th-century eccentric Xavier de Maistre, who catalogued the wonders of his bedroom. The Art of Travel is a wise and utterly original book. Don’t leave home without it.

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