The news occupies the same dominant position in modern society as religion once did, but we rarely consider its impact on us. In this dazzling new book, Alain de Botton, the bestselling author of Religion for Atheists, takes twenty-five archetypal news stories - from an aircrash to a murder, a celebrity interview to a political scandal - and submits them to unusually intense analysis. He raises questions like: how come disaster stories are often so uplifting? What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting? Why do we enjoy politicians being brought down? Why are upheavals in far-off lands often so... boring?