A Week at the Airport

by Alain de Botton

From the bestselling author of The Art of Travel comes a wittily intriguing exploration of the strange "non-place" that he believes is the imaginative center of our civilization.Given unprecedented access to one of the world’s busiest airports as a “writer-in-residence,” Alain de Botton found it to be a showcase for many of the major crosscurrents of the modern world—from our faith in technology to our destruction of nature, from our global interconnectedness to our romanticizing of the exotic. He met travelers from all over and spoke with everyone from baggage handlers to pilots to the airport chaplain. Weaving together these conversations and his own observations—of everything from the poetry of room service menus to the eerie silence in the middle of the runway at midnight—de Botton has produced an extraordinary meditation on a place that most of us never slow down enough to see clearly. Lavishly illustrated in color by renowned photographer Richard Baker, A Week at the Airport reveals the airport in all its turbulence and soullessness and—yes—even beauty.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Philosophy, Essays, Memoir, Aviation, Ebooks

114 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Alain de Botton is a writer and television producer who lives in London and aims to make philosophy relevant to everyday life. He can be contacted by email directly via www.alaindebotton.com

He is a writer of essayistic books, which refer both to his own experiences and ideas- and those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. It's a style of writing that has been termed a 'philosophy of everyday life.'

His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], minutely analysed the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book was unusual, because it mixed elements of a novel together with reflections and analyses normally found in a piece of non-fiction. It's a book of which many readers are still fondest.

Bibliography:
* Essays In Love (1993)
* The Romantic Movement (1994)
* Kiss and Tell (1995)
* How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997)
* The Consolations of Philosophy (2000)
* The Art of Travel (2002)
* Status Anxiety (2004)
* The Architecture of Happiness (2006)
* The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (2009)

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a slight book, enlivened by some excellent reportage-style photography. It doesn't say much and it doesn't go anywhere unlike the people who surrounded de Botton while he was writing it. The book was written at the behest of the BAA boss for the new terminal 5 at Heathrow airport. I hope he thinks he got value for money.

That said, it was quite an enjoyable mix of philosophical musings about the life of an airport, of travel generally. I would think it would actually be the ideal book to pass time waiting at the gate for the plane to be called.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am unduly fascinated by airports. The architecture and design of the better ones seem to allude to a 1960s sci-fi fantasia. A cut-rate 2001, perhaps, with occasional, not-entirely-unwelcome excursions toward the kaleidoscopic realm of Barbarella. Chicago O'Hare, for example, features a long hallway connecting estranged terminals, uninterrupted by shops, restaurants, or shoe shine stands. Its flanks are comprised of large, opaque, convex tiles which mute the jewel-tone colors they sheath into a milky candiness. Overhead, garish neon ribbons of pink and purple—angular like lightning bolts or deranged scribbles—blink and impel the traveler forward toward another glass-and-white terminal, a vaguely fascist aesthetic (of which I approve wholeheartedly) unfortunately interrupted by the colloquial art of hot pretzel stands and ad hoc drug stores. I wish all the schlumpy travelers would part, Red-Sea-like, and I could I ride a softly-humming bubble car from Woody Allen's Sleeper through the long, wide corridors. I wish I could be immersed into all of the unremitting whiteness of futurism—dive naked and flailing into an undisturbed ocean the color of iMacs and milk glass.

The aesthetic promise of (the better) airports is rarely correlative to the experience of them as means to an end—that is, as preface or afterword to airplane travel, which is an egregiously unpleasant task these days. Functionally speaking, airports are equal parts Kafka and incarceration these days, but this is a truth too tiresome to dwell on.

Naturally, I was thrilled when I happened upon this book one day. It seemed as though it was conceived and written with me in mind. I expected long winding essays about the aesthetics of airports—what motivates them, what psychological responses they are intended to precipitate, what thoughtful plan is encoded in the milk white panels and Bauhaus Lite seating; but unfortunately Alain de Botton had his own agenda in mind and not mine when he wrote this ostentatiously clever rumination on the airport. (A little too ostentatious, if you ask me. He really needs to dial down the baroque descriptions and witty analogies a little because when there is so much of them, it makes the writing feel overdone and, occasionally, preposterous.) Alain de Botton was asked by somebody at Heathrow to spend a week in its newest terminal and to write about the experience (with no stipulations about what he could say). The end result is a slight, sometimes interesting, sometimes banal long-form essay about the processes and people that comprise the day-to-day functioning of an airport. His observations are, at times, philosophically apt, but more often than not, they were offset by what I will call literary showboating. The subject of airports deserves a better book. Please, somebody, write one for me.

[صان · Rating 4 out of 5]

با اینکه جذاب بود -اما نه خیلی زیاد- وقتی داشتم به اخراش میرسیدم، حس تموم شدن یک سریال رو داشتم. جایی مث فرودگاه انگار جاییه که زمان متوقف میشه. حس میکردم این تعلیقو. و حالا هم دوست نداشتم ازش بیام بیرون.

***
چیزی که در بلاگرام، بعد از خوندن این کتاب نوشتم
***
یک
یکی از لذت‌های بسیار ناب و کم‌تر تجربه شده، حس بی‌مکانی و بی‌زمانی‌ست. یعنی یک‌جور تعلیق. یک‌جور جدایی از تمام چیزهای روبرو. حسی که در مواقع خاصی به انسان دست می‌دهد و همان بارها هم چقدر لذت‌بخش است!

دو
یکی از جاهایی که می‌شود این حس را تجربه کرد، حضور تنها در ترمینال\راه‌اهن\فرودگاه است. زمانی که وارد میشوی، بارهایت را تحویل میدهی و خودت را برای زمان یک ساعت یا بیشتر رها میکنی. خیالت جمع است که جای چمدانت روی تسمه‌نقاله های شرکت هواپیمابری؟ امن است. همه چیزت را میدهی، شاید جز یک عدد گوشی یا کتابی یا کوله‌ای روی پشت که اون رو هم بدی دیگه چه بهتر.
برای خودت می‌گردی. میان غرفه‌های مختلف. نظرت به آینده، محدود می‌شود به همین چند ساعتی که به مقصد مانده. که البته این حالت بیشتر در فرودگاه حس می‌شود. میدانی که سه ساعت دیگر به مقصد می‌رسی و با خیال راحت به سوی مشغله یا شاید تفریحات‌ت حرکت میکنی. اما در حال حاضر هیچ چیز نداری و همه چیز داری. منتظری. اما نه انتظاری که درونش ترس نهفته باشد. انتظار هنگامی ترسناک است که نمی‌دانی چه بر سرت خواهد آمد. اما در این حال و هوا خیالت راحت است که تمام چیز های ممکن توسط شرکت مسافربری پیش‌بینی شده و تو فقد باید روی صندلی ها بنشینی و به حرکت نور افتاب از لابلای سوراخ های صندلی های فلزی و مردمانی که هرکدام برای خودشان در زندگی خودشان حرکت میکندد و به دنبال رهایی خودشان از مشکلات هستند نگاه می‌کنی. شاید ورقی کتاب بخوانی. شاید چشمانت را ببندی و موزیکی گوش دهی. شاید هیچ کار نکنی و فقد سایه ها را دنبال کنی. در تمام این مدت همه این کار ها را برای خودشان انجام میدهی. نگاه نمیکنی تا پیدا کنی. نمیخانی تا بیابی. میخانی تا خانده باشی و میبینی تا دیده باشی. حسی ناب از دیدن که اگر ذره ای خودآگاهی چاشنی‌ش کنی کلی لذت میاورد و صاف میگذارد توی بغلت.

سه
خب خسته شدم از این جدی نوشتن. یکم شلش کنیم.

چهار
تازگی کتاب "یک هفته در فرودگاه" آقای دوباتن رو خوندم و یاد این حس ها افتادم. دیدم که چقد جالب میشه وقتی به هیچی فک نکنی و توی همون لحظه و همون احساساتی که از طریق چشم و گوش و لامسه درک میکنی شناور بشی و فقد همین تاثیرات حسی رو درک کنی. بدون هیچ معنایی گاهی. وقتی داشتم به اخر این کتاب میرسیدم، حس وقتی رو داشتم که یک سریال داره تموم میشه. حس وقتی که یه خاطره داره تموم میشه. تنها دلیلی که توجیه میکرد این حسِ منو این بود که این تنهایی مطلق و بی هدف و بی زمان توی ترمینال های مختلف، به قدری لذت بخشند که ادم دوست داره تمامن توش غلت بزنه و هیچوقت بیرون نیاد. افتاب بگیره یکم. ادما رو دنبال کنه. از تکنولوژی و عظمت هواپیما یا قطار یا بوی مخصوصشون کیف کنه.
شما هم بخونید.
شما هم لذت ببرید.

[sAmAnE · Rating 2 out of 5]

این کتاب صوتی گوش دادم، نسبت به سایر کتاب‌های آلن دوباتن خیلی برام جذاب نبود.

[ZaRi]

ممکن است بهترین قسمت زندگی حرفه ایمان را صرف نشان دادن اقتدار و سرسختی کرده باشیم اما همه مان در نهایت موجوداتی هستیم با شکنندگی و آسیب پذیری مخوف. از میلیونها آدمی که در بینشان زندگی میکنیم و بیشترشان را به رسم عادت نادیده میگیریم و بیشترشان به رسم عادت نادیده مان میگیرند،همیشه دو سه تایی هستند که توانایی شادشدنمان را گروگان میگیرند که از روی بویشان میشناسیمشان، که حاضریم بمیریم اما بدون آنها زندگی نکنیم.

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Havaalanında geçirilen günlerle ilgili roman ve filmlerde zorunlu konaklama söz konusudur. Ülkeyi terkedememe, başka ülkeye gidememe gibi. Burada Alain de Botton Londra Heathrow Havaalanını işleten firma tarafından yapılan bir profesyonel iş teklifi sonucu bir haftasını yeni yapılan 5. Terminalde geçirir. Gözlemlerine, hayal dünyasının zenginliklerini de katarak güzel bir havaalanı hikayesi kurgular, bunu profesyonel fotoğrafçının çektiği renkli resimlerle destekler. Bu nedenle 130 sayfa görülen kitabın yazılı kısmı yarısı kadardır. Botton’un kalemi kuvvetli olduğundan okuması oldukça zevkli bir metin ortaya çıkar. Tabii işverenini memnun etmek için hava taşımacılığına, başta British Airways olmak üzere havayollarına, bu sektörde bilinen-bilinmeyen birçok çalışana dair güzellemeler yapar. Tatil için ideal bir dinlendirici kitap. 3,5/4

[Kathrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by anyone other than de Botton, and I would skim over this title, thinking, there's a cute gimmick, but what can you really do with it? But de Botton owns my heart, and if he says stay a while in this glass-cased human conveyor belt, I will.
Do not expect a narrative to transport you from point A to B; that is the study, not the practice. Expect instead a quixotic meditation on both the architecture of the building that sends you off and the state of mind that desires it. We are offered glimpses of the small people making up the hidden population of the "city" of Heathrow, both in prose and poetic photography, from the shoe-shiner to the runway cleaner, bookstore manager, security officer, steward, airport priest, etc. to the temporary citizens made up of all those thousands in transit. A whole culture made up of every culture, an international cast!
Here's a lovely moment in the bookstore, as de Botton tries to convey the book he'd like to buy (really, as it turns out, an excellent description of the book he ends up writing):
I had a chat with a manager named Manishankar, who had been working at the shop since the terminal first opened. I explained - with the excessive exposition of a man spending a lonely week at the airport - that I was looking for the sort of books in which a genial voice expresses emotions that the reader has long felt but never before really understood; those that convey the secret,everyday things that society at large prefers to leave unsaid; those that make one feel somehow less alone and strange.
Manishankar wondered if I might like a magazine instead.

De Botton, I love you because you'd rather the book.

[Mohsen M.B · Rating 3 out of 5]

ایده‌ی کتاب بسیارجذاب است؛ یک هفته زندگی در فرودگاه و دیدنش از زوایایی متفاوت که کمتر کسی حتی به آن فکر می‌کند.ـ
حالت داستانی و عکس‌های جذاب کتاب را خواندنی‌تر هم کرده بودند.ـ

اما ترجمه اصلا جذبم نکرد؛ روان نبود، بندهای موصولی در دل هم لول می‌خوردند و جاهایی هرچه خواندم متوجه نشدم که چه می‌گوید. برخورد با «چه‌قدر» و «چه‌طور» توی ذوق می‌زد؛
مگر می‌شود مترجمی کنکورد و مَنات را «کانکورد» و «مانات» بنویسد و ویراستار هم آن‌ها را نبیند؟!ـ
مترجم نام را «رگی» نوشت، ویراستار هم نمی‌دانست که «رِجی» است؟ـ
«حالا در حریم داخلی او هستیم.» و «معمولاً همیشه دنبال دست‌شویی می‌گردند.» را هم سیاحت کنید.ـ

[Eylül Görmüş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bir süredir baskısı bulunmayan türlü Alain de Botton eserlerine birer birer kavuşuyoruz Everest Yayınları sayesinde, şükürler olsun. Bir havalimanında okumaya başladığım Havalimanında Bir Hafta da yazarın yakın zamanda yeniden baskısı yapılan eserlerinden bir diğeri.

Epey enteresan bir proje bu: havalimanı işletmeciliği yapan bir firma, de Botton'dan Londra'daki Heathrow Havalimanı'nın o dönem yeni açılan 5. terminalinde bir hafta geçirmesini ve gözlemlerini yazmasını rica ediyor. Bunu bir denetçinin değil de bir sanatçının yapmasını istiyorlar özellikle ve alanın ortasına kuracakları bir masada tüm gün çalışmasını, geceleri havalimanı otelinde konaklamasını ve kendisine sunulacak sınırsız erişim kartıyla alanın her yerine girerek gözlemler yaparak neticesinde izlenimci bir araştırma sunmasını istiyorlar. Teklif gibi teklif ya. Yazarımız da tabii ki kabul ediyor ve ortaya bu kitap çıkıyor.

Yaklaşma, Gidiş, Gümrüksüz Saha ve Geliş başlıklı dört bölümden oluşan kitabın içinde yazarın o bir hafta süresinde alanda çektiği fotoğraflar da bulunuyor. Ben de Botton'un sıradan olandan derinlik çıkarmayı becermesini, gündelik hayattan felsefe üretmesini çok seviyorum malum, bu kitabı da sevdim ama diğer eserlerine kıyasla daha zayıf buldum. Biraz ısmarlama iş duygusu var maalesef metinde.

Yine de orada gördüklerini aktarış biçimi, alanda tanıştığı insanlarla yaptığı konuşmalardan çıkardıklarını okumak güzeldi elbette. O insan hikayelerinden birine dair yazdığı şu kısım mesela, bence nefis: "David bagaj bandına bir valizi yerleştirirken, beklenmedik ve rahatsız edici bir şeyi fark etti: Tatiline giderken yanına 'kendisini' aldığını! Kalacağı yerin özellikleri ne olursa olsun, 'onun' da villada olacağı gerçeği ciddi biçimde baltalayıcıydı." Hah! Ne şahane bir bakma biçimi. Havaalanları sıklıkla kendimizden kaçmak için uğradığımız yerler değil midir sahiden?

Neyse, sonuçta havalimanına dair bu tür bir inceleme okumak hoşuma gitti, zihnimde yeni pencereler açtı. Şu muzip cümleyle bitireyim: "Seyahat acenteleri sadece nereye gitmek istediğimizi soracaklarına, hayatımızda neyi değiştirmek istediğimizi sorsalar, daha akıllıca bir iş yapmış olurlar belki."

[Luca Masera · Rating 3 out of 5]

De Botton gironzola per una settimana nell'aeroporto di Heathrow, tra arrivi, partenze, cucine, sale bagagli, e riflette sui meandri della psiche umana e sul concetto di viaggio come "portatore di cambiamenti" delle nostre esistenze.

Qualche spunto interessante ma pochi guizzi di genio, lontano anni luce per intenderci da Una cosa divertente che non farò mai più di David Foster Wallace giusto per dirne uno.

[Ferial Fattahi · Rating 2 out of 5]

موضوع جذابى كه خوب پرداخته نشده بود. شايد نگاه هاى سرسرى و سطحى به مسائل از ملزومات فضاى وقوع آنها يعني همان فرودگاه بوده ولى به هر حال از جاذبه و مفهوم محتواى كتاب به شدت كاسته است.

[iva° · Rating 4 out of 5]

alain de botton dobio je ponudu kojoj nije mogao odoljeti: vlasnici heathrowa ponudili su mu 2009. godine da tjedan dana provede na terminalu 5, gigantskom putničkom čvorištu smještenom između dvije piste najvećeg londonskog aerodroma.

čovjek uzeo svoje potrepštine (i fotografa koji će kasnije tekst vizualno popratiti fotografijama) i instalirao se na aerodromu.

kao plod toga, objavio je ovu knjižicu u kojoj se isprepliću njegova razmišljanja o putovanjima i sudbinama i o tome kako utroba jednog aerodroma funkcionira, s razgovorima s ljudima koji putuju i koji tamo rade - čistačima (wc-a, cipela, podova...), pakiračima hrane, prodavačima u duty free shopovima pa i sa samim upraviteljem british airwaysa. sve je to tečno i u svom lakodubokoumnom stilu ukoričio pa imamo jednu sasvim ne-običnu knjigu o želucu aerodroma nakon kojeg niti jedno putovanje avionom više neće biti isto.

[Reza Abedini · Rating 3 out of 5]

كتاب درباره اقامت يك هفتگي آلن دوباتن در بزرگترين فرودگاه لندن است
گاه هم صحبتي با مسافران و كاركنان گاه توصيفات آلن دوباتن از نماي ساختمان ها و گاه پيش بيني حال مسافران و شرح حال اون ها
زماني كه توسط شركت پشت ميزي مينشيند كه در ترمينال شلوغ براي او تعبيه شده است ، مينويسد:

(با اينكه نوشتن در چنين مكاني تقريبا غير ممكن به نظر مي رسد اما افكار اصيل شبيه حيوانات خجالتي اند ، گاهي اوقات بايد پيش از آنكه از لانه هاشان بگريزند ، به سمت ديگيري نگاه كنيم ، مثلا يك ترمينال يا يك خيابان شلوغ)



هم صحبتي نويسنده با مسافران ، نظافتچي و شخصي به نام دادلي مسترز (كسي كه كفش هاي مسافران را واكس ميزند) و هم چنين كشيش هاي فرودگاه بسيار خواندني بود

در قسمتي كوتاه به اديان و واكنش پيروان هر دين قبل از سوار شدن به هواپيما و غلبه بر ترس ناشي از پرواز هم اشاره شده كه جالب بود

[Eglantine TRN · Rating 2 out of 5]

اولین کتابی بود که از آلن دوباتن خوندم، نمیدونم قلم نویسنده اینجوریه یا ترجمه اینقدر بد بود!
عنوان جذابه ولی کتاب گزارش و تلاشی نه چندان موفق!

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alain de Botton's "A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary" is the intriguing story of his week as writer in residence at Terminal 5 in London's Heathrow Airport. He takes us on a journey into the airport - arrivals, departures, and the shoe shine guy - and into the hidden parts of the airport - the detainment room in customs, the assembly line that puts together in flight meals, and to a meeting with the CEO of British Airways. Even more captivating than his words, the colored pictures that accompany them are exquisite.

Unfortunately, I felt incredibly let down by de Botton's Heathrow Diary. I knew it was a small volume when I picked it up from the library's 'new release' shelf, but I still expected more: more depth, more mystery, more emotion, more analysis. For the most part, every fleeting thought and conclusion he put to paper was one that any average person could have come to if he or she had spent a couple of days in the airport too. I expected more, especially from a man whom I envied for being able to spend a week in a busy metropolitan airport like Heathrow; Airports are one of my favorite places on earth.

It is a quick read and the inside scoop is intriguing, so if you are a fan of airports and won't get your hopes up, check out this book.

[David Sasaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

So begins the last paragraph: "We forget everything: the books we read …" That is certainly true in my case and, I regret, increasingly so.

I was recently asked to contribute a text about ZeitRaum as an imagined space that binds together all the world’s airports, and was delighted to accept the provocation. I have spent such a large percentage of the past ten years of my life in airports and yet I've never written seriously about them.

Not that the temptation hasn't arisen. Several years ago (I can't remember exactly when), in some European city (I can't remember exactly where, Salzburg perhaps?), I spent the afternoon in a bookstore reading Alain De Botton's A Week at the Airport. The slim paperback was the unexpectedly arresting result of what was essentially a publicity stunt; the large multinational that constructed Heathrow's Terminal 5 began contracting writers to spend week-long sabbaticals at the airport.

I had recalled that the book inspired me to think differently about airports, but that's about all I could recall. So, in preparation for my own humble contribution to our understanding of hubs of aerial traffic, I decided to give it another read. (A rarity for me, but reading De Botton is much more like attending a thoughtful, reflective sermon than thumbing through non-fiction.

This time, reading on my Kindle, I was able to highlight several gems, among them:

Had one been asked to take a Martian to visit a single place that neatly captures the gamut of themes running through our civilisation – from our faith in technology to our destruction of nature, from our interconnectedness to our romanticising of travel – then it would have to be to the departures and arrivals halls that one would head.

I was reminded of the Roman philosopher Seneca’s treatise On Anger, written for the benefit of the Emperor Nero, and in particular of its thesis that the root cause of anger is hope. We are angry because we are overly optimistic, insufficiently prepared for the frustrations endemic to existence.

Our capacity to derive pleasure from aesthetic or material goods seems critically dependent on our first satisfying a more important range of emotional and psychological needs, among them those for understanding, compassion and respect. We cannot enjoy palm trees and azure pools if a relationship to which we are committed has abruptly revealed itself to be suffused with incomprehension and resentment.

At the beginning of human history, as we struggled to light fires and to chisel fallen trees into rudimentary canoes, who could have predicted that long after we had managed to send men to the moon and aeroplanes to Australasia, we would still have such trouble knowing how to tolerate ourselves, forgive our loved ones and apologise for our tantrums?

Like thriller writers, the security staff were paid to imagine life as a little more eventful than it customarily manages to be.

The advantages of wealth can sometimes be hard to see: expensive cars and wines, clothes and meals are nowadays rarely proportionately superior to their cheaper counterparts, due to the sophistication of modern processes of design and mass production.

We may settle on the sort of cheerful but equivocal look commonly worn by people listening out for punchlines to jokes narrated by their bosses.

Although each suitcase was a repository of dense and likely fascinating individuality – this one perhaps containing a lime-coloured bikini and an unread copy of Civilization and Its Discontents, that one a dressing gown stolen from a Chicago hotel and a packet of Roche antidepressants – this was not the place to start thinking about anyone else.

Out of the millions of people we live among, most of whom we habitually ignore and are ignored by in turn, there are always a few who hold hostage our capacity for happiness, whom we could recognise by their smell alone and whom we would rather die than be without. There were men pacing impatiently and blankly who had looked forward to this moment for half a year and could not restrain themselves any further at the sight of a small boy endowed with their own grey-green eyes and their mother’s cheeks, emerging from behind the stainless-steel gate, holding the hand of an airport operative.

Alain De Botton fulfills what strikes me as the principle function of the contemporary writer. While the rest of the world rushes by distracted, he shuffles along unhurried with an careful eye, chiseling those observations into eloquent prose. I have a feeling I will continue to read everything he publishes.

[Will Ansbacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alain de Botton spent a week courtesy of British Airways as a “writer in residence” at Heathrow, creating more of an extended impressionistic essay than a book. It comes across as a fond but mostly uncritical piece about the travellers and the efforts that go on behind the scenes to make the infrastructure seamless and invisible to them.

He has a nice insightful and wry style though, contrasting (for example) the unrealistic expectations of a family’s dream vacation in Greece with the reality of their bickering at the check-in, and the realization by the father, that whatever were the fabulous qualities of the resort, they would be critically undermined by the fact that he would have to bring himself with him on his holiday as well.
de Botton observes that British Airways did have some “unusually personable employees” at a desk bearing the message ‘We are here to Help’, but that “the staff shied away from existential issues.”

And then there is a gentle dig at an Airport Priest, who says travellers do approach him when they are “lost”. Yes, but what exactly are they feeling lost about, de Botton wonders, to which he replies, sighing, “almost always, the toilets.”

But apart from comparing first class passengers in the Concorde Lounge’s quiet opulence with the masses crowded on plastic seats outside, de Botton doesn’t actually capture any of the unremitting awfulness of present-day air travel itself. This is about that other-worldly experience of being in a place where you’re either not-quite-departed or not-yet-home-again.

[Pardis · Rating 4 out of 5]

فرودگاه ها براي بي صبري آدمهاست كه به وجود آمده اند، وگرنه همان بندرها و كشتي ها مي توانست جوابگوي رفت و آمد آدمها باشد. و البته فرودگاه جاي عجيبي است، چون ناخودآگاه سبب قليان احساسات مي شود و احتمالاً اين بهترين كاري است كه مي توان در فرودگاه انجام داد. ميزان عاطفه سيالي را كه در جهان بروز پيدا مي كند مي توان در فرودگاه ها سنجيد. در لحظه پرواز حالي روحاني به مسافر و همراهانش دست مي دهد، انگار كه او براي لحظه اي به مرگ بينديشد. كساني كه سال هاي سال است ازدواج كرده اند و زندگي بدون عشق را پشت سر مي گذارند، شايد در فرودگاه يك جمله عاشقانه به همسرشان بگويند. احتمال سقوط هواپيما چيزي است كه بدترين رابطه هاي زناشويي را نيز مي تواند نجات دهد.

[sæm]

آژانس هاى مسافرتى اگر عاقل تر بودند به جاى اين كه بپرسند مى خواهيم كجا برويم مى پرسيدند اميدواريم چه چيزى را در زندگى مان تغيير دهيم.

[Yaprak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Günümüz filozoflarından Alain De Botton, Havalimanında Bir Hafta eserinde dünyanın en konforlu ve lüks havalimanlarından biri olan Heathrow'da kaldığı bir haftayı anlatıyor.Bu bir haftalık süreçte gelen ve giden yolcuların hikayelerini, havalimanı görevlilerini anlatırken küçük gözüken şeylerin aslında çok da küçük olmadığını fark etmemizi sağlıyor. Vedalar, kavuşmalar, yeni başlangıçlar ve bitişler. Havalimanının kendine özgü atmosferine dair çok keyifli, felsefi, kısacık bir metin. Fotoğrafçı Richard Baker'in fotoğrafları da kitaba eşlik ediyor.Kitaba uçağımı beklerken başlayıp, bulutların yanındayken bitirdim. Çok keyifliydi benim için.Bir de birkaç alıntı eklemek istedim:

"Bir Marslı, medeniyetimizi tanımak için tek bir yeri ziyaret etmek isteseydi onu bir havalimanına götürmek yeterdi. Teknolojiye duyduğumuz sadakatten doğayı nasıl da tahrip ettiğimize, karşılıklı iletişimimizden seyahat etmeyi romantikleştirmemize kadar, her şeyi bulabilirdi burada."

"Her şeyi unutuyoruz; okuduğumuz kitapları, Japonya tapınaklarını, Luxor lahitlerini, havayolu kuyruklarını, kendi aptallıklarımızı. Bu yüzden de mutluluğun başka yerlerde olduğuna inanmaya başlıyoruz; bir limana bakan otel odalarında, Sicilyalı şehit St. Agatha'nın cesedi üstüne kurulmuş tepedeki bir kilisede, ücretsiz açık büfe servisi olan palmiye ağaçlarından yapılmış bir bungalovda...Yeniden eşyalarımızı toplama, umut etme ve bağırıp çağırma arzusu ediniyoruz. Bu yüzden havalimanına yeniden gidip önemli dersleri en baştan öğrenmemiz gerekiyor."

[Raelene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored these two passages -

“Out of the millions of people we live among, most of whom we habitually ignore and are ignored by in turn, there are always a few that hold hostage our capacity for happiness, whom we could recognize by their smell alone and whom we would rather die than be without.”
― Alain de Botton, A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary


“Even if our loved ones have assured us that they will be busy at work, even if they told us they hated us for going traveling in the first place, even if they left us last June or died twelve and a half years ago, it is impossible not to experience a shiver of a sense that they may have come along anyway, just to surprise us and make us feel special (as someone must have done for us when we were small, if only occasionally, or we would never had the strength to make it this far).”
― Alain de Botton, A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary

[Pantea · Rating 1 out of 5]

به نظر من خیلی جسته گریخته و بی‌سر و ته بود. به جز چند جمله برای من نکته‌ی خاصی نداشت
یک سری فضاسازی از لحظه‌ها تو فرودگاه داشت اما انقدر سردستی بهش پرداخته شده بود که هیچ حسی رو در من ایجاد نمیکرد
یکی از جمله‌هایی که دوست داشتم :
آژانس‌های مسافرتی اگر عاقل‌تر بودند به جای اینکه بپرسند می‌خواهیم کجا برویم می‌پرسیدند امیدواریم چه چیزی را در زندگی‌مان تغییر دهیم.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

B.R.A.CE. 2020 Προσωπικά λατρεύω τα αεροδρόμια! Από τα καλύτερα μου συναισθήματα η προσγείωση και το να δεις την βαλίτσα σου ( ροζ, γαλάζι, φούξια με πεταλούδες ) να βγαίνει στον ιμάντα! Ήθελα πολύ να είναι σαν το The Terminal αλλά του έδωσαν δωμάτιο στο ξενοδοχείο δίπλα στο αεροδρόμιο :P

Αλλά κι αυτά που γράφει ο Αλαιν μια χαρά μου φάνηκαν όταν ολοκλήρωσα την ανάγνωση. Για κάποια έμαθα κάτι που δεν ήξερα, για κάτι άλλο επιβεβαιώθηκα και για μερικά ακόμα θυμήθηκα δικά μου. Α! και για ελάχιστα αδιαφόρησα.

Ειδική αναφορά στις φωτογραφίες που "ντύνουν" τα κείμενα τόσο ταιριαστά.

[ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alain, I love you, but you disappointed me. I've read most of your books and had high expectations for this one because I've spent so much of my time in airports. This book seems at best the beginnings of perhaps a really interesting look into airports and at worst a re-hashing of highlights from his other books. I would recommend this book to people who want an introduction to de Botton's work...but wouldn't recommend it for the people who have come to love his other books.

Perhaps because this book was the product of only a week's observation, it didn't have the depth or insights of his other books. It felt a little scatter-shot and I finished it wanting more.

The worst thing about this book was de Botton's tendency to romanticize globalization. He devoted so much time to describing the incongruency and the foreign nature of things brought in close proximity.... Airplane meals destined for Sri Lanka were side by side with airplane meals destined for Africa...that sort of thing. This poetry of globalization irritates me as much as the poetry of architecture and industry; when books tell you how many pieces of steel, how many bricks, and how many men it took to build a tower or a bridge. Somehow, the numerology doesn't impress me...and similarly, I lack enthusiasm for the descriptions of far flung things brought close together. There is something a little medieval to me about descriptions like that. Perhaps I'm cynical or unappreciative.

However, I was intrigued when he spoke about the airport as a manifestation of a metaphysical space human beings have always imagined. We've always looked to the sky as another (and usually a spiritual) dimension...and we take for granted that in our time, we have a unique architecture and technology that allows us to make what has been a metaphor for centuries, a reality. In light of our technological accomplishments, what does the anonymous nature of an airport, the regimentation of flying, the sense of incarceration as you go past security juxtaposed with the fantasy and expectation of tourism or even a family reunion mean? This is where I wish de Botton had spent most of his energy.

His brief interview with the designated airport priest was hilarious....Glad I read it just for that.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alain de Botton has joined Malcolm Gladwell and several other contemporary writers as a lite philosopher/essayist. I do not intend this in a pejorative sense, as I do believe that there is room in an era of decreasing literacy for writers who can serve as a bridge. I have now read four of de Botton's books and regard all of them as excellent. A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary is, to my mind, a follow-on essay to his excellent The Art of Travel.

The author was invited by one of the executives of the company that manages Heathrow Airport to spend a week at the airport, sleeping at the adjoining Sofitel Hotel, and eating all his meals at various facilities at the airport or hotel. What is even more interesting, if it is true, is that de Botton was given carte blanche to write whatever he wanted.

Seeing the thousands of comings and goings of travelers, de Botton had some interesting points to make, especially this one which might almost have been lifted from The Art of Travel:

As David [a hypothetical British traveler] lifted a suitcase on to the conveyor belt, he came to an unexpected and troubling realisation: that he was bringing himself with him on his holiday. Whatever the qualities of the Dimitra Residence [his Greek destination], they were going to be critically undermined by the fact that he would be in the villa as well. He had booked the trip in the expectation of being able to enjoy his children, his wife, the Mediterranean, some spanakopita and the Attic skies, but it was evident that he would be forced to apprehend all of these through the distorting filter of his own being, with its debilitating levels of fear, anxiety and wayward desire.

On the back cover of the old Whole Earth Catalog, there used to be this motto, which expresses it all succinctly: "Wherever you go, there you are." This quote has been variously attributed to Confucius and others, but it seems to be one of de Botton's themes.

This was a quick read, taking me less than two hours to take in its hundred-odd pages. I am still on track to read some more of the author's books, which I will no doubt find to be equally informative and amiable.

[آیت معروفی · Rating 2 out of 5]

من از دوباتن چیزی نخوانده بودم. توصیه چرا. توصیه شده‌بودم.
خب معلوم است که توصیه‌ها از جستارهایی در باب عشق شروع می‌شود و به هنر سیر و سفر می‌رسد.
من اما این کتاب را به خاطر ایده‌ای که ممکن بود برای توسعه‌ کارم داشته باشد به جای بقیه‌ی توصیه‌ها گذاشتم. کتاب به سفارش یک شرکت غول پیکر مسافرت‌های هوایی نوشته شده. دوباتن قرار بوده به قول خودش و به درخواست کارفرمایش یک گزارش امپرسیونیستی از فرودگاه کارفرمایش بنویسد.
ایده‌ی بامزه ایست البته برای این‌که توی ایران بشود از هم‌چین چیزی نان درآورد باید بیشتر رویش کار کرد و چکشش زد ولی به هرحال خوب بود. گزارش اما نه تنها چیز دندان‌گیری نداشت بلکه گاهی اوقات روی اعصاب هم بود.
دوباتن نه جغرافیای پروژه‌اش را خوب توصیف می‌کند نه آن کیفیت امپرسیونیستی مورد انتظار کارفرمایش را. به قول فراستی نه فیزیکی در کار است نه شیمی‌ای. چیزی که زیاد است توصیفات حوصله سر بر و ریختن اینفورمیشن توی حلق این جملات توصیفی.
از این جهت هم برایم جذاب بود این‌که چطور می‌شود با اینفورمیشن هم کاری نکرد. از این هم درس گرفتم.

[Dena · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب عجیبی بود، خاطرات آلن دوباتن از یک هفته اقامتش در فردوگاه Heathrow. به هرحال خواندن توصیفات وقایع یک فرودگاه از دید و نظر یک فیلسوف خالی از لطف نبود۰

[Lulli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Possiamo anche trascorrere la maggior parte della nostra vita professionale a cercare di sembrare dei duri, ma in fondo siamo tutte creature spaventosamente fragili e vulnerabili. Viviamo in mezzo a milioni di persone che per la maggior parte ignoriamo e da cui siamo ignorati, ma alcune avranno sempre in ostaggio la nostra capacità di essere felici; riusciremmo a riconoscerle anche dall’odore e non potremmo farne a meno a costo di morire.

(pag.121)

Ho scelto di leggere questo libro in questo momento per un motivo pratico preciso anche se forse banale: intraprenderò un viaggio breve intercontinentale tra un paio di settimane, passando attraverso quelle giganti strutture che si chiamano aeroporti e volevo capire come gli spunti che questa lettura mi poteva dare si potrà applicare alla realtà. Dopo aver letto “Un indovino mi disse” in cui Tiziano Terzani smette di intraprendere viaggi in aereo per poter toccare da vicino i posti in cui si sofferma, ci voleva un breve saggio come questo di De Botton per comprendere meglio come invece un aeroporto può darti molto di più di quanto ti aspetti se solo riesci a vedere.

Alain De Botton riceve una chiamata dal direttore generale della BAA, società che gestisce Heathrow, il quale lo invita a trascorrere una settimana nel hub aeroportuale più moderno (il libro è stato pubblicato nel 2009), il Terminal 5, al fine di raccogliere materiale per produrre un libro, lavorando a una scrivania collocata nell’atrio delle partenze. Nonostante questa proposta lo fa scivolare nel ruolo dello scrittore alle dipendenze del mecenate, accetta il compito.

Diviso in quattro capitoletti: Avvicinamento, Partenze, Oltre il check-in, Arrivi, l’occhio osservatore acuto e lo spirito critico di De Botton analizzano ogni aspetto della sua permanenza all’aeroporto: le conquiste della tecnologia e dell’ingegneria moderne nella struttura del terminal e nei corpi degli aerei, l’hotel dove soggiorna, i tabelloni pubblicitari, i sistemi di controllo, i centri commerciali e tutti quegli aspetti materiali che concorrono a far funzionare l’aeroporto. Ma ciò non è altro che un trampolino che fa saltare le riflessioni del filosofo sugli aspetti psicologici, emotivi, umani legati questa volta alle persone, a quelle che ci lavorano e a quelle che sono meri visitatori di poche ore. Riflessioni sul lavoro e sul benessere psicologico dei dipendenti a cui può essere insegnata la competenza ma non necessariamente la gentilezza; gli atteggiamenti delle diverse persone che si devono separare e di quelli che si incontrano dopo lungo tempo; le speranze che riponiamo in un viaggio per rigenerarci e farci conoscere cose nuove ma dal quale l’io non può prescindere, ergo se i miei bisogni emotivi e psicologici non sono soddisfatti, difficilmente posso trarre godimento dalla bellezza di una spiaggia esotica; l’atteggiamento delle persone davanti ai controlli e quei primitivi sensi di colpa; la distinzione tra classi che trae origine nel sistema meritocratico della nostra società, ossia che la virtù porti inevitabilmente al successo materiale e chi è in condizioni di indigenza se l’è meritato poiché poco virtuoso, correlazione che la storia cristiana ha sempre rifiutato (Gesù era buono ma povero); e infine l’accezione del viaggio come un interlocutore al quale chiedere di aiutarci per scoprire quale parte della nostra vita vogliamo cambiare.

“Un tempo la nozione di viaggio come portatore di decisioni era un elemento essenziale del pellegrinaggio religioso, un’escursione nel mondo intrapresa nel tentativo di promuovere e consolidare un cammino interiore. I teorici cristiani non si lasciavano affatto turbare dai pericoli, dai disagi o dalle spese previste dai pellegrinaggi, perché li consideravano, al pari di altri apparenti svantaggi, meccanismi con cui rendere più vivido l’intento spirituale implicito del viaggio. Passi coperte di neve sulle Alpi, tempeste al largo delle coste italiane, briganti a Malta, guardie ottomane corrotte: queste prove servivano soltanto a non far dimenticare così facilmente quell’avventura. Per quanto i voli frequenti ed economici siano un beneficio, dovremmo maledirli per avere sottilmente minato ogni nostro tentativo di utilizzare il viaggio come strumento per apportare cambiamenti duraturi nelle nostre esistenze.”

Ora starò più attenta le prossime volte che entrerò e uscirò da un aeroporto ad osservare l’umanità che vi fa parte con tutte le emozioni ed espressioni impresse sui loro volti e alle lezioni che questo luogo catalizzatore di destinazioni nasconde.

[Lucrezia Monti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una settimana trascorsa all'interno dell'aeroporto di Heathrow, Terminal 5. Sono poche le persone che scriverebbero un libro del genere, meno ancora probabilmente coloro che sarebbero disposti a leggere uno spot pubblicitario - perché tale dichiara di essere, da subito - di oltre 100 pagine.
Eppure questo volumetto dimostra in modo inequivocabile che con un buon bagaglio culturale ed una buona capacità espressiva si può scrivere davvero di tutto, e con risultati più che apprezzabili, con acume ed ironia.
(Siamo onesti: a quanti verrebbe in mente di citare il De Ira di Seneca vedendo un passeggero che dà in escandescenze al bancone del check-in?)

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Botton's nonfiction books are always a singularly special treat, and especially after the delights of The Art of Travel I was very excited to learn that he had written a book about his experience of having spent a week, at the invitation of British Airways, in Terminal 5 of Heathrow airport. I'm not sure I can imagine a more fertile location for generating narrative and philosophical richness, and it's no wonder de Botton describes his notebooks growing "thick with anecdotes of loss, desire and expectation, snapshots of travellers' souls on their way to the skies." Whether he's discussing the poetry of room-service menus (in his airport hotel room), the dramatic vignettes of arriving and departing passengers, the stresses faced by the security staff, the loneliness of waiting areas, the robotic transits of luggage, or a field mouse on a moonlit tarmac, de Botton doesn't disappoint. Nor do Richard Baker's accompanying photographs, which tell a multitude of stories all their own. My only complaint is the book's brevity: I really wanted it to be twice its length (and, frankly, given the special opportunity its author enjoyed, one wonders why it's not).