The School of Life
An Emotional Education
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The School of Life
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Narrated by:
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Alain de Botton
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Charlie Anson
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
*Introduction narrated by Alain de Botton*
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
The essential guide to how to live wisely and well in the twenty-first century - from Alain de Botton, the bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Course of Love
This is an audiobook about everything you were never taught at school. It's about how to understand your emotions, find and sustain love, succeed in your career, fail well and overcome shame and guilt. It's also about letting go of the myth of a perfect life in order to achieve genuine emotional maturity. Written in a hugely accessible, warm and humane style, The School of Life is the ultimate guide to the emotionally fulfilled lives we all long for - and deserve.
This audiobook brings together ten years of essential and transformative research on emotional intelligence, with practical topics including:
- how to understand yourself
- how to master the dilemmas of relationships
- how to become more effective at work
- how to endure failure
- how to grow more serene and resilient
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Critic reviews
"What he has managed to do is remarkable: to help us think better so that we may live better lives." (Irish Times)
"A serious and optimistic set of practical ideas that could improve and alter the way we live." (Jeanette Winterson, The Times)
"Alain de Botton likes to take big, complex subjects and write about them with thoughtful and deceptive innocence." (Observer)
What listeners say about The School of Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- JKitten
- 17-01-20
Funny and wise: all we want to be.
Funny and wise: all we want to be. Articulates the home truths we all know but never admit in a gentle, understanding coaxing way.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 27-03-21
Fantastic read
The narration is excellent. Very easy to listen to and helps you digest. It’s full of Aha! moments and realisations... I’ve read it twice already! I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter and didn’t want it to end. I highly recommend this book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Judy Corstjens
- 19-03-22
Wierd but wonderful
I've never read anything quite like it - wide-ranging, very personal and eclectic, but hard to pin down. A bit of a whirlwind. Many fascinating ideas and insights, but also moments of 'what it is this guy on?' I was occasionally irritated by what felt like a 'snowflaky' attitude but I also laughed out loud at frequent, witty and ironic turns of phrase. Alain de Botton sometimes seems to be from another planet or century to the run of mankind with whom he so earnestly wants to share his experience and wisdom. He refers to memories of a distant or demanding father in his book-lined study, and the boy in corduroy trousers (crying to nanny?) His selection of life's problems tend to be rather esoteric - jealousy that another author may have sold more books, being snubbed by important peple at conferences, or being dissapointed at the pleasures of fame - rather than not being able to pay the gas bill, or being made redundant - that make your average Joe sad. I don't want to criticise though, as I found this book extremely engaging and thoughtful, even when I disagreed with some of de Botton basic assumptions. Despite being obviously very well-read, I wondered why he did not pay enough attention to evolutionary psychology. It's not the most recent batch of parents that f us up (as de Botton assumes), it goes back all the way to apes and beyond. We are badly adjusted human beings for good evolutionary reasons. Anyway, enough of my blathering - read it for yourself because it is worth much, much more than £7.99.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Lucia
- 29-01-24
To read at least once in a lifetime
It's proper food for thoughs, it's a relief and a confort book to help accepting our self and each other.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- dianalewis
- 07-08-21
What a wonderful and life changing book
I really cannot over-emphasise how well thought out and insightful this book is. It made a massive difference in my marriage almost immediately because I suddenly had much more insight about the human condition and my perhaps maladaptive approaches at times. I have bought the book as a gift for others as I feel everyone should read this book! I also love the narrator's voice which is much like Alain's (which is of course fabulous as many have noted)! If you want to stay sane in this life read this book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Happycal21
- 11-11-19
loved this
A pleasant and accessible philosophical exploration of modernity and the individual. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the performance
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 21-01-21
Insightful
It was good, just a little too superficial for me. A lot of themes and points are discussed, but only the surface is scratched. But I did already know a lot of these concepts from different books and a lot of therapy, so if you're new to self reflection and personal growth, this will be a really good place to start.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Rob
- 03-01-22
educational
A lot of lessons that appear all too easy at first. Being able to act on the knowledge is the emotional intelligence we all need.
Alain, please read the next one yourself!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Oz
- 24-02-21
Enjoyed
I found the second half much more interesting and thought provoking, although that might be as I've recently read a lot on relationships recently which the first half focuses on.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Alžběta
- 01-10-22
An immensely important book. Read it!
I wish I could have read this book in my late teens or early twenties. It would have saved me lots of worries and confusion. The book gently yet powerfully shows you that almost everyone deals with issues shockingly similar to yours, however weird or broken you think you might be. I have gained many new perspectives on relationships, work, parenting, sex, and lots of other topics while listening to this book. "The School of Life" is the kind of book you can keep coming back to and discovering new gems of truth and wisdom you somehow happened to miss before.
My only criticism is that - based on the sample - I thought the whole book was narrated by Alain De Botton, who sadly narrates only the introduction. While Charlie Ansom does an excellent job, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that the whole book wasn't narrated by Alain De Botton.
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