Status Anxiety

I think of Alain de Botton's writing as deeply palate cleansing. When my mind is gunked up from reading things that were written poorly, mindlessly and without the benefit of high-quality editing, I feel the need to recalibrate and read what to me is the bar for precise writing, where each sentence matters and the words in that sentence were chosen to bear significance. Reading Status Anxiety right now and experiencing that same sense of rejuvenation all of de Botton's writing brings to me. This is a small excerpt from the early in the book:

..we each appear to hold within ourselves a range of divergent views as to our native qualities. We discern evidence of both cleverness and stupidity, humour and dullness, importance and superfluity. And amid such uncertainty, we typically turn to the wider world to settle the question of our significance. Neglect highlights our latent negative self-assessments, while a smile or compliment as rapidly brings out the converse. We seem beholden to the affections of others to endure ourselves.

Maybe I am reading all the wrong things and wrong writers these days but it must have been a year since I last read something this polished. The feeling is like drinking an exceptional tea that greatly exceeds your expectation because it has such a perfect balance of strength and aroma.