• The News

  • A User's Manual
  • By: Alain de Botton
  • Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
  • Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Release date: 02-11-14
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
  • 4 out of 5 stars 3.8 (17 ratings)

Regular price: $24.47

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Publisher's Summary

The news is everywhere. We can’t stop constantly checking it on our computer screens, but what is this doing to our minds?
We are never really taught how to make sense of the torrent of news we face every day, writes Alain de Botton (author of the best-selling The Architecture of Happiness), but this has a huge impact on our sense of what matters and of how we should lead our lives. In his dazzling new audiobook, de Botton takes twenty-five archetypal news stories - including an airplane crash, a murder, a celebrity interview and a political scandal - and submits them to unusually intense analysis with a view to helping us navigate our news-soaked age. He raises such questions as "Why are disaster stories often so uplifting?"; "What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting?"; "Why do we enjoy watching politicians being brought down?"; "Why are upheavals in far-off lands often so boring?"
In The News: A User’s Manual, de Botton has written the ultimate guide for our frenzied era, certain to bring calm, understanding and a measure of sanity to our daily (perhaps even hourly) interactions with the news machine.
©2014 Copyright © Alain de Botton 2014. (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful
5 out of 5 stars
By Yahya Kawia on 08-01-16

Eye opening book

It presents the news as a potential source for learning and growth. If done correctly, the news can make us wiser and more fulfilled citizens of the world.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful
5 out of 5 stars
By Conrad on 03-17-14

Great book. Essential listening/ reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a great book, with great advice and thoughts.

What didn’t you like about Nicholas Bell’s performance?

He is a lifeless reader, and emotionless. I've read the physical book, and he just doesn't bring the book to life.

Any additional comments?

Hopefully in the future Alain De Botton will be asked to narrate his own books. I spoke with him about this, and he said that he is not asked. Lets hope this changes.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

4 out of 5 stars
By M on 02-18-14

On The Media ...

As always, after finishing one of Alain de Botton's books, you look up with a fresh perspective on something that had seemed sorted and steady in your mind; the world seems to be a slightly brighter and more interesting place. Here he takes on that multi-headed behemoth, the Media, and slowly dissects it and its relationship with us so that we can better understand its motivations and faults. A very good read, though the production (the music, and the constant interruptive numbers) was slightly distracting.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful
5 out of 5 stars
By Mark on 06-15-15

Very insightful

Alaina critical analysis of the news resonated with me and my own thoughts. Well worth a listen.

My only criticism is that the narrator can sometimes be hard to hear.

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2 of 2 people found this review helpful

4 out of 5 stars
By Chirag on 04-07-17

An easy read

Well structured and easy to follow with some interesting propositions and insights. The numbering of sections within chapters was a bit strange.

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