Philosopher's take on news media yields mixed results

The News. A User's Manual. By Alain de Botton. Hamish Hamilton, €23.90. Reviewed by Brendan Daly.

Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves at the recent Academy Awards in Los Angeles: Alain de Botton dissects celebrity culture in his book. Picture: Getty

The News

**A User's Manual**

**By** Alain de Botton

**Hamish Hamilton,** €23.90

**Reviewed by** Brendan Daly

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Philosophy may never be the new rock n' roll, but Alain de Botton has done his best to rescue it from the vaults of dusty academia. Since the publication of his multimillion-selling 1993 debut Essays In Love, de Botton has explored preoccupations like work, status, and sex through the prism of the great philosophers and literary ...