The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-help Guide [Paperback]

Neel Burton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0956035337 | ISBN-13: 978-0956035332 | Edition: 1st Edition

We spend most of our time and energy chasing success, such that we have little left over for thinking and feeling, being and relating. As a result, we fail in the deepest possible way. We fail as human beings. 'The Art of Failure' explores what it means to be successful, and how, if at all, true success can be achieved.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr Neel Burton, 31, is a psychiatrist and philosopher who lives and teaches in Oxford, England. He is the recipient of the Society of Authors' Richard Asher Prize, the British Medical Association's Young Authors' Award, and the Medical Journalists' Association Open Book Award. His other books include 'The Meaning of Madness' and 'Plato's Shadow', both also with Acheron Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 202 pages
• Publisher: Acheron Press; 1st Edition edition (June 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0956035337
• ISBN-13: 978-0956035332
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,864,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Be Human, March 22, 2011

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Andrew G - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-help Guide (Paperback)

The Art of Failure is an uncommonly valuable book because it pinpoints the faults of contemporary definitions of failure and success, helping readers realign their values to match the things that lead to fundamental happiness. Unfortunately the book is challenging to many of the core beliefs that drive contemporary humans and its conclusions are difficult to implement in proportion to their truth. As such, it appropriately calls itself an 'anti-self help guide' and promises no easy tricks to success among one's peers.

The previous reviewer is correct that the author draws from (primarily though not exclusively Western) philosophy and psychology, but The Art of Failure is in no way a summary or a survey of either of these. The author ties together relevant and interesting philosophical and social theories in a tight arc that clearly leads to a realization of the fuller possibilities attendant to being human, as well as how one can achieve these personally. The examples from psychology and philosophy are not only engrossing for their own sakes but are often remarkably novel repackagings of material from the the intellectually sensitive minds of the past in different and unusual forms. I found that the results not only elucidated the ideas of those psychologists and philosophers but gave them dimensions I had not before realized. On this account alone the book would be worth reading.

By far the book's most important impact is that it speaks to that voice inside that wonders at the end of the day how it has gotten here and whether it needs to be here at all. It rang true for me on this deep level usually reserved for literature and art; if I can implement only some of the conclusions in my life, I will be better for it.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book saved my life., September 4, 2011

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Ms. Riot - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Art of Failure - The Anti Self-Help Guide (Kindle Edition)

I am a young academic suffering my first bout of major depression due to the break up of a long term relationship and a poor career choice. The title of the book drew me in because at this moment I indeed feel like a total "failure". All of the cognative psychology self-help books my therapist recommened I read while battling (or wading) through my depression are simplistic, banal, unintelligent and honestly not worth the paper they were printed on. This book is indeed the anti-self-help book and thank goodness it is. The book itself uses many literary, psychological, and philosophic allusions in its rhetoric and might not be that useful for readers who are not use to prose that is cross disaplinary. I, on another hand,love this book. I bought it for the kindle on my smart phone and spent the entire evening devouring it... I now have some new perspective on my life, when for the past few months I have been waking up every morning literally wishing I was not alive wondering how I had gotten myself into the situation that I am in. This book saved my life, and my therapist is an idiot who gets paid too much.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A failure with no art, January 26, 2011

By 

brian d foy (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Art of Failure: The Anti Self-help Guide (Paperback)

The Art of the Failure is a self-published book from a vanity press. Neel Burton released this book through Acheron Press, his own company. I think I must have bought it from a "recommended books" link from another Amazon purpose. I didn't realize that until the end of the book, but it explains the odd formatting throughout the book and the lack of the usual frontmatter. There's no introduction that presents the schema for a reader to tie together the chapters. The book rambles. It has the kernel of a good idea, but lacks the skillful hand of a storyteller to convey it. This work is softer than even the soft science the author inhabits.

The book itself is unrelated to its title. It's a survey course in (mostly) Western philosophy. Neel uses a series of chapters named vaguely as things such as "Truth", "Courage", or "Ghosts", and while each chapter relates loosely to the title, the chapters don't have much relationship to each other, and certainly not to the study of failure. I still can't figure out to what "Art of the Failure" refers. It certainly doesn't relate to the "Art of Failure" column that Malcolm Galdwell wrote for the New Yorker in 2000. A better title would be "The Art of Being Human", but there's still not much art in this book.

The subtitle is "The anti-self-help guide". This isn't a parody of self help books. It may be ironic since it really is trying to teach you how to be a better person even if it is sly about it. There's no introduction to set the tone or the goals or the book, nor an epilogue to tie everything together. In that sense, it might be the anti-self help book in that the author doesn't care if you learn anything or do anything differently, or that you even read the book. If you look at his authoring credits from 2010, you see that he spent a little time on several titles. In this book, that inattention shows, both in conception and education. I suspect that this book is really a bullet point on his résumé instead of a serious intent to engage with readers.

I don't recommend this book for any purpose.