Why do we travel? It's a good question and one which deep-thinker and novelist de Botton sets out to solve in his latest tome The Art Of Travel.

His main aim is to complicate the commonly held belief that travel is, by its nature, "a good thing". The thrust of his argument is that even in paradise, we can't get away from ourselves.

But while his answers to audience questions are witty there is an obviousness to them which renders them more dinner-party anecdotes than philosophy.

This might not matter if de Botton were labelled a philosophical comedian rather than a humorous philosopher but that's how he is presented to us.

Perhaps expecting too much from a discussion on travel is a bit like expecting too much from travel itself and, ironically, that was one of the very things de Botton set out to discuss.

Review by Louise Ramsay