The site is nice but, having read through most of it I don't think I care for it.

It seems to promote (among other things) aristocracy, dictatorship and censorship (to varying degrees). It glorifies mindless ritual. It seems to believe that those who know best should be in charge (De Botton himself?) structuring life for others around them. It concentrates far too much on supposed motives (jealousy, envy, ambition, desire for respect, the desire to remake the world etc.) which may apply to the author, but are not necessarily as universal or basic as he seems to believe. Maybe, just maybe, on occasion, a person might buy a nice car not because they want to be seen in a nice car and thus respected, but simply because they like nice cars. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.

To me, the individual is paramount. The society where the individual can expand is a beautiful and increasingly vanishing thing. I'm always wary of want-to-be kings dressed up in talk of a better world. Traditionally, not much good has come from them.