Reviews

The School of Life: An Emotional Education by Alain de Botton

thirstyfortea's review against another edition

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5.0

Powerful book on philosophy in pill form. Great weaving of concepts from ancient philosophy and art, threaded through modern day life to explain why people do the things they do under the headings of topics like love, kindness, work, charm, therapy, and friendship.

nola1222's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.75

This book was a very interesting read. The author goes over pretty much every aspect of social life and writes about it very elegantly. Describing the cause of some phenomena that are on further reflection very obvious in a very good to understand manner. 

The main takeaway of this book is the difference between Romanticism and Classicism and how we might be better of looking at the classicist viewpoint more often these days. 

Please note that this book merely tries to find explanations for certain social phenomena and doesn’t ascribe these as factual, nor does it tell you exactly what to do. Although I disagree (and agreed) with a lot of points I would still recommend this read to everyone.

beata_p's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

eli_mageofpages's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

mykecall's review against another edition

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Simple ideas written with a vast array of vocabulary. I'm not sure who this book is for. The YouTube videos are a whole lot better and easier to digest. 

arimon's review against another edition

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So slow. Hard to pick up again

00liz's review against another edition

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informative inspiring relaxing medium-paced

4.5

mchlking's review against another edition

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4.0

I appreciate the eloquence and perspective of emotions, truly a work of art and an emotional education indeed. I enjoyed the first 2/3 part of the book than the last 1/3, but still a good read.

fcarouge's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

edbell's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.75