Arts-show guests often seem afraid to say what they think. Like the football-free reality-TV show, we should forget about the art itself and focus on the characters doing the talking and the dynamics between them

Alain de Botton explains the thinking that prompted him to marshal leading writers into closed organisations

The ‘Philosophers’ Mail’, edited by Alain de Botton, re-examines some lowest common denominators

Essayist Geoff Dyer spent two weeks on board a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf. His fiction-fuelled insights have been published as a book

I would love to have a relationship but worry I’m not able for it

Conversation salons, where people can talk openly about deep topics without having to fluff it up, are back

Need to find a painting that can calm you in moments of stress? Or a book that can cure cynicism or a tendency to prevaricate? The use of art and literature as therapy is an old idea, but it’s making a comeback

The art world is adept at training us to want what it’s selling, but perhaps it’s time to consider instead what we want from art

‘In Search of Lost Time’ is ‘the most famous and least read French novel’ – which is a pity, as it still rewards with its deep insights

This big, baggy, rambling excursion into the world of thought could have found a quicker route to its main point