[2] Humphrey Carpenter in The Sunday Times (2 April 2000) said, "The Consolations of Philosophy is certainly a commentary rather than a work of original thought; but few discussions on the great philosophers can have been so entertaining.

De Botton takes us on a brisk, playful tour of the lives and ideas of half-a-dozen of the big names in the history of philosophy."

According to Ben Rogers in the Sunday Telegraph, "singling these thinkers out and grouping them together is only the smaller part of de Botton’s achievement.

"[3] Kirkus Reviews writes "Congenial, refreshing, original—and mercifully succinct—de Botton may well achieve the impossible by making philosophy popular.

In seeking to popularise philosophy, Alain de Botton has merely trivialised it, smoothing the discipline into a series of silly sound bites.