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The School of Life

An Emotional Education

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The School of Life

By: Alain De Botton, The School of Life (PRH Rights)
Narrated by: Alain de Botton, Charlie Anson
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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

©2019 Alain de Botton (P)2019 Penguin Audio Consciousness & Thought Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Self-Esteem Emotions

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)

All stars
Most relevant  
I really enjoyed the journey that this book took me on. Regardless if you agree with everything it is an excellent thought experiment and challenges some of our preconceptions

Thought provoking and a call to action

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What an amazing, amusing and must read book. Thank you Allain for letting me know that my silliness, craziness and strangeness is, in fact, ok and very normal. I feel whole for the first time in a long time. I highly recommend this book for its wonderful insights into normal human behaviour - the why’s and how’s - that, until now, I thought was shameful and broken.

I feel so much better now.

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This book is full of self-reflection, epiphanies about the human condition, and encourages a wider appreciation for the world and the people in it.

Everyone should read this to improve who they are.

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loved this book. Learnt a number of new le
I've lessons while other concepts are covered in a different view point.

top 10

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Everyone should read this at 17 years old and then every year after that. Straightforward thinking that takes years to understand and this could be a quicker way to learn if you listen. Thoroughly enjoyed listening and sad when it finished.

Everyone Should Read This at 17 years old

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Has some good advice for " life." But the style of presentation is so very middle class English, and seems to be directed at the Worried Well which became dull in places. There are also some quite strong pronouncements made throughout the book, but with no sources offered to substantiate them. Are they evidence - based, or written just from the author's perspective? But the book contains lots of great food for thought and is well worth the read/listen.

Middle Class English Advice for Life

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This book is relentlessly practical and valuable, and some is something to be cherished. This will help you in making life a richer, deeper, and more meaningful experience. Please pass it on to anyone you know.

Exceptional

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Everyone should read/listen to this book to gain perspective and understanding of the lives we lead

Highly recommend

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It was a little heavy and slow in the beginning, but some great take-aways on human psychology once it got into the meat of it. I think the second time around would be even better!

Really enjoyed it!

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Alain de Botton was the used as narrator for the sample and at the start of the book, but soon after the intro, the narrator was changed. The book content is fantastic but I found the narrator too hard to listen to.

The narrator was different from the sample

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