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How long does it take to read Status Anxiety?

Alain De Botton

Status Anxiety by Alain De Botton takes about 5 hours 37 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 5 hours 37 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2005. 306 pages, about 84,150 words.

12 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 9 hours 21 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 5 hours 37 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 30 minutes

The page count is the median across 6 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we’re judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety. We care about our status for a simple reason: because most people tend to be nice to us according to the amount of status we have (it is no coincidence that the first question we tend to be asked by new acquaintances is ‘ What do you do?’). With the help of philosophers, artists and writers, the book examines the origins of status anxiety (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the success of our friends), before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness. It aims not only to be entertaining, but wise and helpful as well.

Subjects: Psicologia social, Social status, Psychological aspects, Social psychology

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