The School of Life: An Emotional Education
Alain de Botton
Discover everything you were never taught at school about how to lead a better life. Introduced and edited by the bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Course of LoveWe spend years in school learning facts and figures but the one thing we're never taught is how to live a fulfilled life. That's why we need The School of Life - a real organisation founded ten years ago by writer and philosopher Alain de Botton. more
310 pages, Paperback
First published Hamish Hamilton
4.25
Rating
7019
Ratings
697
Reviews
Alain de Botton
147 books 13974 followers
Alain de Botton is a writer and television producer who lives in London and aims to make philosophy relevant to everyday life. He can be contacted by email directly via www.alaindebotton.comHe is a writer of essayistic books, which refer both to his own experiences and ideas- and those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. It's a style of writing that has been termed a 'philosophy of everyday life.'
His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], minutely analysed the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book was unusual, because it mixed elements of a novel together with reflections and analyses normally found in a piece of non-fiction. It's a book of which many readers are still fondest.
Bibliography:
* Essays In Love (1993)
* The Romantic Movement (1994)
* Kiss and Tell (1995)
* How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997)
* The Consolations of Philosophy (2000)
* The Art of Travel (2002)
* Status Anxiety (2004)
* The Architecture of Happiness (2006)
* The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (2009)
Community reviews
i think everyone should get this book on the day they are born. and then go through living keeping it by their side. i feel like this should become my go-to gift. smart, soothing, wise, philosophical, direct, daring, kind. truly a must-read for everyone. more
Recomandările echipei care a redactat volumul (Alain de Botton & Fiii) sînt străvechi și de bun simț. Le repetă clienților orice psihoterapeut (indiferent de natura terapiei). Sfaturile țin, desigur, de bagajul oricărui individ care dorește să se simtă bine cu el însuși. Sînt sfaturi rezonabile și nu strică nimănui să le verifice și, dacă poate, să le urmeze. Școala face din noi niște „ignoranți din punct de vedere emoțional”. more
If you’re a long-time fan of the School of Life then there won’t actually be much in this collection of essays that you haven’t already seen. But if you’re new to De Botton’s philosophical capitalist venture, then you’ll find herein a smorgasbord of intellectual medication, concentrated in pill form, equally effective when either taken in small doses, or downed in one. . more
“We aren’t ever done with the odd business of becoming that most extraordinary and prized of things, an emotionally mature person—or, to put in a simpler way, an almost grown-up adult. ”- Alain De BottonThe School of Life: An Emotional Education comprises essays on how to survive in the modern world by mastering our emotions. Alain De Botton founded The School of Life 10 years ago to help people nurture and hone their emotional intelligence, an aspect that remains conveniently overlooked in our modern curriculums. A philosopher and writer himself, Botton understood the importance of emotional health and how its grasp could significantly change the quality of our lives. This book, which is a comprehensive collection of the writings that the School has produced over the years, is divided into five sections: Self, Others, Relationships, Work, and Culture. more
“The School of Life: An Emotional Education” is a reassuring and sane voice in the world of constant self-improvement, instant gratification, life-wrecking perfectionism and outdated romantic ideals. A book that so well captures the perplexity of being human that it should be read by everyone. It is divided into five parts: Self, Others, Relationships, Work and Culture. Those chapters don’t give you any upbeat tips on how to improve yourself or tackle certain situations. Instead, with a bit of very subtle dry humour, they describe the tiny emotional battles each day of being alive makes us face and says that it is okay, you are doing fine. more
This book combines psychology and philosophy to teach emotional intelligence. There is a lot of good advice on how to reduce the stresses and anxieties of the modern world. In particular, the author argues for reducing the influence of romanticism with its emphasis on the primacy of emotions in favor of increasing the influence of classicalism with its emphasis on careful contemplation. The section that I enjoyed the most was one at the end that showed the connection between art and understanding how to live a good life. One small point that detracts from this book is that the author writes from a privileged position, so some of the issues might seem like rich people's problems. more
O carte excepțională pe care orice tânăr ajuns la maturitate ar trebui sa o citească. După părerea mea, este un must read. 😊. more
I have mixed feelings about this book, and since this was supossed to be an emotional education the authour clearly hasn't reached his goal with me. The introduction of the book - about where we stand as a society nowdays (although this is true only for the developed countries and not entirely, when it comes to the role that religion plays in our lives - which is thought to be increasingly small, but personally I don't believe that is the case, since from my own experience I know more religious persons or believers, than agnostics or atheists) and the first chapter s (about the "Self" and about "The others") were interesting to read - sort of a recap of ideas that are out there for quite a while, not provable, but probable, something that makes good sense (although the subchapter about therapy seems heavily biased and idealised). Then. it all went downhill when the "Relationships" started, and the authour just started rambling, stating one thing, only to disagree with it later on, stating very confusing ideas about human behaviour in general. I would've been better of skipping this, and the "Work" chapter, which also contained a lot of unuseful informations. more
This book. THIS BOOK. Saved my life today. It's only May 24, but it may be my book of the year. It's only 2020, but it may be my book of the century. more
3. 5 Stars. De Botton may only take credit for the introduction to this book, but you can hear his voice all the way through it. This is a compilation of philosophy, advice and other insights, most of which will be familiar to those who have watched those many videos online or have read any of the books. I can see both sides of the coin with this book, in one sense I see why the growing franchise can be accused of stating the obvious and repeating old ideas, but on the other hand it gets into some really compelling areas. more
una dintre cele mai bune cărți pe care le-am citit vreodată, o sinteză a. vieții la cel mai real mod. amuzantă pe alocuri, cu informații extra prețioase, The school of life și-a făcut rapid loc în topul cărților mele preferate. more
this book brings together ten years of essential and transformative research on emotional intelligence. i personally like "the school of life" series like anxiety, insomnia, small pleasures and on being nice etc. decided to pick this one up as its one of the books that i have not read in the series. i really love how there are some that i could relate, but the others - not so much. they are a bit redundant and can be too factual. more
دوران مدرسه، دورانیست که عده ای آن را بهترین دوران زندگی می نامند. اما برای خیلی از ما، دورانی تلخ و خسته کننده بوده است. حداقل برای من که اینگونه است. دورانی که هرگز حاضر نیستم به هیچ وجهی به آن برگردم و دوباره تجربه اش کنم. حقیقتش برایم مانند زهری بوده که 12 سال، آرام آرام به خوردم داده انداین کتاب، که با فکر میکنم با عنوان "آنچه در مدرسه یاد نگرفته اید" در ایران چاپ شده و آن را در گودریدز پیدا نکرده ام، درباره کودکی و دوران مدرسه است و به خوبی بیان میکند که این زمان چه تاثیراتی بر مای کنونی گذاشته است. more
I am mesmerized about the density of concepts presented so wisely by Alain de Botton. The beauty of this book lies in how common yet challenging notions about life are put together to offer a more authentic and thoughtful perspective. For those of us preoccupied with self-discovery, this read reveals valuable insights that could work like great reminders of the lessons we once learned. I love Botton's book for both the lens he encourages us to see the world through (with more gentleness and acceptance) and the clarity he has in packing ideas and theories into swallowable messages. I have at least to favorite quotes, as I remember:''Love is a skill, not a feeling. more
de Botton si compania de autori au scris o carte utilă, care cuprinde sfaturi de bun simț pentru o sănătate emoțională cât mai bună. Se scrie despre relația cu ceilalți, cu tine, cu trecutul, cu școala, societatea, dar există și capitole finale despre muncă și cultură, precum și o comparație pierzătoare pentru cel dintâi între romantism și clasicism în ceea ce privește mai ales felul de raportare asupra lumio și a problemelor emoționale de tot felul. Nu mi-a plăcut abordarea pe alocuri marxistă, uneori mai subtilă, alteori pe față și nici reducționismul din unele pagini, dar recunosc că mi-a clarificat multe aspecte legate de prorpria minte și cred că ar merita să fie citită de orice om interesat de viața nevăzută a ființei sale. more
This is a profound book that provides some incisive advice on life and relationships from the perspective of one's emotional life. The prose is often close to poetic and no punches are pulled when it comes to facing reality and living well. Almost every paragraph has something useful and memorable to say. This is no platitudinous self-help book. It is challenging and sometimes confronting, but deeply resonant with those who know they are flawed human beings struggling to live a better life. more
I think most humans on this planet would benefit from reading this book. It's beautiful, concise, wise, universal and deeply understanding. . more
Anxiety is not a sign of sickness, a weakness of the mind, or an error for which we should always seek a medical solution. It is mostly a hugely reasonable and sensitive response to the genuine strangeness, terror, uncertainty, and riskiness of existence. . First I started the School of Life as an audiobook, but then I realize I want to underline a lot of sentences so switched to the Kindle edition and started reading from the beginning. After a couple of pages, I realized I want to take notes while underlying the sentences along with going and coming back between pages so the e-book wasn’t good enough either and bought the physical book. more
I told my daughter last night that if I had a dying wish it would be for her to read this book. (She hates reading and I feel strongly about the insight it offers enough to make this sort of impression. ) I hope that she will remember I said this and pick it up someday (before I die) and we can talk about it. Edited to add: It can be repetitive at times, but there’s quite a few nuggets of insight that many adults (at least it seems) are not privy to. Logical, basic perspectives that make you think past what you think you know and believe. more
WOW. What a Boring and Tedious book. Truly a let down and overhyped. The book seemed to go on a constant tangent throughout. Constantly going excessively into detail about anything and everything. more
Meh. If you’re like me and you have watched all the school of life content on YouTube. this book will be highly repetitive. The breadth of topics covered was too extensive to draw any meaningful lessons. If you’re not familiar with any of the school of life content then maybe you’ll enjoy this one . more
The end of year procrastination has a new shape this time, Marie-Knodoing our currently reading shelf, ditching any book that didn't spark some joy and also it has been years since the last time my currently reading shelf was empty. ANYWAYThere is something appealing about the moderately nihilistic views de Botton holds - is it the usual artistic references, or the low expectations he manages to set at the start of each one of his books, I dunno . The main idea of the book is that a lot of human suffering is the result of our emotional illiteracy despite the big strides humanity made technology wise. It's the culmination of little distresses and small unseen frustrations, that end up challenging our mental health. Having a steady mental health hygiene or as I love to call it "protocol" to keep yourself in check is a great life enhancing step towards debunking your emotions and processing them. more
Un fel de 7 ani de acasă cartea asta. un must have de cultură. o ador. more
کتاب فارسی من خوندم:«بهترین درسهای زندگی» بود. احتمالا خود فانی دست به انتخاب یک سری یادداشت ها زده، احتمال قوی تر این است دست به حذف یک سری از یادداشتها زده. هرچه گشتم در گودریدز عنوان دقیق فارسی نبود. باری، کتاب خوبی است. من شبیه رمان یا کتاب علمی نخواندمش، گاه و بیگاه سراغش رفتم چند عنوانی خواندم، گاهی درنگی کردم گاهی لبخندی زدم، تا فرصت بعد. more
Even if the title includes the word "school", I didn't think this audiobook was going to feel like somebody was lecturing me for hours. I don't like the tone of this book, it even feels a bit condescending and, what is more important, after listening to almost 4 hours of it I can't say I'm learning anything from it. This book is simply not for me, so that's it. DNF at 40% of the audiobook version. more
I like where the author is going with the state of education in the current world - the skills that were probably useful at one time may not be relevant today, and as per the author, the absence of emotional intelligence in the curriculum is conspicuous. There are a lot of good pointers in the book which is meant to be a supplement to today's adult's education. In no way is it complete, but it could be as a starting point for those looking to live a wholesome life. Readers who are well acquainted with the topic can also find some takeaways. The writing is mostly great, but I found it went into a ramble in some parts. more
Not sure where to start with this but I can’t believe how much I hated it. The only parts I enjoyed were the part on Therapy and the historical stories with the prints of artwork. I honestly though I would love this book but I found it so confusing to read. I couldn’t tell for a lot of it if I’d missed the point or missed a section on how he would word his next section and why (even trying to explain how I felt makes no sense). It’s all over the place and I find it crazy how he states his own opinions as if they’re factual. more
"Putine catastrofe din vietile noastre sau ale tuturor popoarelor au, pana la urma, o alta origine decat ignoranta emotionala. ""Platim un pret prea mare pentru ignoranta de sine. Sentimentele si dorintele neanalizate persista si isi distribuie energia aleatoriu pe parcursul vietii noastre. Ambitia necunoscuta din noi apare ca panica; invidia se transforma in amaraciune; nervozitatea se transforma in furie; tristetea, in depresie. Materialul negat erupe si patrunde in sistem. more
Fist of all I think Alain de Botton is really wise. He knows the life. His personality took my interest. I watched some of his performance also on TED. Listen to him, and you will not waste your time. more
Great ideas, though it feels too much of a compilation of them. Would have liked it if the ideas were more connected. more