THE NEWS: A USER’S MANUAL
Alain de Botton (Pantheon, 2014) ISBN: 978-0307379122 
The News: A User’s Manual is pop philosopher and celebrated egghead Alain de Botton’s latest contribution to dinner party conversation*. It is a meditative, considered musing on why western societies in particular are so obsessed with “the news” and keeping up with it. As a news junkie myself, passing through an airport bookshop, I was curious to see what de Botton might have concluded about it all. I have not previously read any of his books, though I did once catch an episode of the documentary series The Architecture of Happiness, so that counts, right?