Self-Knowledge
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Self-Knowledge
Buy for $11.69
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fiona Buckland
About this listen
An examination of the importance of self-knowledge, providing practical exercises to aid self-discovery.
In Ancient Greece, when the philosopher Socrates was asked to sum up what all philosophical commandments could be reduced to, he replied: "Know yourself". Self-knowledge matters so much because it is only on the basis of an accurate sense of who we are that we can make reliable decisions - particularly around love and work.
This book takes us on a journey into our deepest, most elusive selves and arms us with a set of tools to understand our characters properly. We come away with a newly clarified sense of who we are, what we need to watch out for when making decisions, and what our priorities and potential might be.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2018 The School of Life (P)2020 The School of LifeListeners also enjoyed...
-
How to Think More Effectively
- A Guide to Greater Productivity, Insight, and Creativity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
We know that our minds are capable of great things because, every now and then, they come out with a brilliant idea or two. However, our minds are also unpredictable, spending large stretches of time idling or distracting themselves. This is a book about how to optimize these beautiful yet fitful instruments so that they can more regularly and generously produce the sort of insights and ideas we need to fulfill our potential and achieve the contentment we deserve.
-
A Simpler Life
- A Guide to Greater Serenity, Ease and Clarity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied, and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials. But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back commitments in our diaries. True simplicity requires that we understand the roots of our distractions – and develop a canny respect for the stubborn reasons why things can grow complex and overwhelming.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bite-size practical tips for a better life
- By Tonya Kubo on 02-12-22
-
Calm
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 11
Few life skills are as neglected, yet as important, as the ability to remain calm. Our very worst decisions and interactions are almost invariably the result of a loss of calm - and a descent into anxiety and agitation. Surprisingly, but very fortunately, our power to remain calm can be rehearsed and improved. We don’t have to stay where we are now: our responses to everyday challenges can dramatically alter. This is a book that patiently unpacks the causes of our greatest stresses and gives us a succession of arguments with which to defend ourselves against panic and fury.
-
A Job to Love
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story2 out of 5 stars 1
The idea that work might be fulfilling rather than just necessary is a recent invention. These days, in prosperous areas of the world, we don't only expect to get paid, we also expect to find meaning and satisfaction. It's a big ask and explains why so many people have an identity crisis in their work lives. A Job To Love is designed to help us better understand ourselves in order to find a job that is right for us. It explores the myths, traps and confusions that get in our way, and shows us how to develop new, effective attitudes and habits.
-
Anxiety
- Meditations on the Anxious Mind
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24
This is a guide to anxiety: why we feel it, how we experience it when it strikes, and what we can do when we come under its influence. Across a series of essays that look at the subject from a number of angles, the tone is helpful, compassionate, and in the best sense, practical.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Insightfulness
- By Anonymous User on 06-10-23
-
How to Overcome Your Childhood
- How to Raise Contented, Interesting, and Resilient Children
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 49
When trying to deal with our current troubles and anxieties, it can be deeply irritating to be asked to consider our childhoods. They happened so long ago; we can probably barely remember, let alone relate to, the little person we once were. But one of the most powerful explanations for why we may, as adults, be struggling, is that we were denied the opportunity to fully be ourselves in our earliest years. This book is a guide to better understanding our younger selves in order to shape who we wish to be in the future.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An essential read.
- By Anonymous User on 12-03-23
-
How to Think More Effectively
- A Guide to Greater Productivity, Insight, and Creativity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
We know that our minds are capable of great things because, every now and then, they come out with a brilliant idea or two. However, our minds are also unpredictable, spending large stretches of time idling or distracting themselves. This is a book about how to optimize these beautiful yet fitful instruments so that they can more regularly and generously produce the sort of insights and ideas we need to fulfill our potential and achieve the contentment we deserve.
-
A Simpler Life
- A Guide to Greater Serenity, Ease and Clarity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied, and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials. But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back commitments in our diaries. True simplicity requires that we understand the roots of our distractions – and develop a canny respect for the stubborn reasons why things can grow complex and overwhelming.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bite-size practical tips for a better life
- By Tonya Kubo on 02-12-22
-
Calm
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 11
Few life skills are as neglected, yet as important, as the ability to remain calm. Our very worst decisions and interactions are almost invariably the result of a loss of calm - and a descent into anxiety and agitation. Surprisingly, but very fortunately, our power to remain calm can be rehearsed and improved. We don’t have to stay where we are now: our responses to everyday challenges can dramatically alter. This is a book that patiently unpacks the causes of our greatest stresses and gives us a succession of arguments with which to defend ourselves against panic and fury.
-
A Job to Love
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story2 out of 5 stars 1
The idea that work might be fulfilling rather than just necessary is a recent invention. These days, in prosperous areas of the world, we don't only expect to get paid, we also expect to find meaning and satisfaction. It's a big ask and explains why so many people have an identity crisis in their work lives. A Job To Love is designed to help us better understand ourselves in order to find a job that is right for us. It explores the myths, traps and confusions that get in our way, and shows us how to develop new, effective attitudes and habits.
-
Anxiety
- Meditations on the Anxious Mind
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24
This is a guide to anxiety: why we feel it, how we experience it when it strikes, and what we can do when we come under its influence. Across a series of essays that look at the subject from a number of angles, the tone is helpful, compassionate, and in the best sense, practical.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Insightfulness
- By Anonymous User on 06-10-23
-
How to Overcome Your Childhood
- How to Raise Contented, Interesting, and Resilient Children
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 49
When trying to deal with our current troubles and anxieties, it can be deeply irritating to be asked to consider our childhoods. They happened so long ago; we can probably barely remember, let alone relate to, the little person we once were. But one of the most powerful explanations for why we may, as adults, be struggling, is that we were denied the opportunity to fully be ourselves in our earliest years. This book is a guide to better understanding our younger selves in order to shape who we wish to be in the future.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An essential read.
- By Anonymous User on 12-03-23
-
On Confidence
- By: The School of Life, Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
We spend vast amounts of time acquiring confidence in narrow technical fields: quadratic equations or bioengineering; economics or pole vaulting. But we overlook the primordial need to acquire a more free-ranging variety of confidence - one that can serve us across a range of tasks: speaking to strangers at parties, asking someone to marry us, suggesting a fellow passenger turn down their music, changing the world. This is a guidebook to confidence, why we lack it and how we can acquire more of it in our lives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Poignant and timeless
- By Graceny Jimenez on 08-15-20
By: The School of Life, and others
-
How to Know a Person
- The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
- By: David Brooks
- Narrated by: David Brooks
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,411
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,230
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,228
As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.” And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A book he was ready to write
- By Adam Shields on 11-17-23
By: David Brooks
-
What They Forgot to Teach You at School
- Essential Emotional Lessons Needed to Thrive
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 51
We probably went to school for what felt like a very long time. We probably took care with our homework. Along the way we surely learned intriguing things about equations, the erosion of glaciers, the history of the Middle Ages, and the tenses of foreign languages. But why, despite all the lessons we sat through, were we never taught the really important things that dominate and trouble our lives: who to start a relationship with, how to trust people, how to understand one’s psyche, how to move on from sorrow or betrayal, and how to cope with anxiety and shame?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 07-18-21
-
The School of Life
- An Emotional Education
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton, Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Emotional intelligence affects every aspect of the way we live, from romantic to professional relationships, from our inner resilience to our social success. It is arguably the single most important skill for surviving the twenty-first century. But what does it really mean? One decade ago, Alain de Botton founded The School of Life, an institute dedicated to understanding and improving our emotional intelligence. Now he presents the gathered wisdom of those ten years in a wide-ranging and innovative compendium of emotional intelligence that forms an introduction to The School of Life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The school of life needs to be in schools.
- By Angela pope on 02-03-23
-
Small Pleasures
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
We exhaust ourselves and the planet in the search for very large pleasures, while all around us lies a wealth of small pleasures, which—if we only pay more attention—can bring us solace and joy on a daily basis. This is a guidebook to life's small pleasures: everything from the distinct delight of holding a child's hand to the joy of watching the evening sky. It's an intriguing, evocative collection that will heighten our senses and return us to the world with newfound excitement and enthusiasm.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An underrated treasure
- By Anonymous User on 08-12-23
-
The Good Enough Parent
- How to Raise Contented, Interesting, and Resilient Children
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 3 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
Bringing up a child to be an authentic and mentally robust adult is one of life’s great challenges. It is also, fortunately, not a matter of luck. The Good Enough Parent is a compendium of life lessons, including how to say ‘no’ to a child you adore, how to look beneath the surface of ‘bad’ behavior to work out what might really be going on, how to encourage a child to be genuinely kind, and how to handle the moods and gloom of adolescence.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
All parents should read this!
- By Sarah Grace Holland Begashaw on 08-05-24
-
The School of Life: On Failure
- How to Succeed at Defeat
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7
This is a hopeful, consoling, gentle book about failure. Our societies talk a lot about success, but the reality is that no one gets through life without failing–in small and usually also in large ways. Sometimes our failures are very obvious, at other times, we feel we have to conceal them out of shame. This book encourages us to accept the role that failure plays for all of us and to feel compassion for ourselves for the messes we can’t help but make as we go through our lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The second part of the book was really good perceived failure.
- By Anonymous User on 12-29-23
-
How to Think More About Sex
- The School of Life
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 283
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 240
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 239
We don't think too much about sex; we're merely thinking about it in the wrong way. So asserts Alain de Botton in this rigorous and supremely honest book designed to help us navigate the intimate and exciting—yet often confusing and difficult—experience that is sex. Few of us tend to feel we're entirely normal when it comes to sex, and what we're supposed to be feeling rarely matches up with the reality. This book argues that twenty-first-century sex is ultimately fated to be a balancing act between love and desire, and adventure and commitment.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
How to Think About Sex as Only Sex
- By Richard on 02-26-13
By: Alain de Botton
-
How Proust Can Change Your Life
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Nicholas Bell
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 554
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 464
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 464
For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust’s life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations – and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A nice petite primer on Proust
- By Darwin8u on 02-20-13
By: Alain de Botton
-
The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 673
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 501
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 499
Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
By: Alain de Botton
-
God-Level Knowledge Darts
- Life Lessons from the Bronx
- By: Desus, Mero
- Narrated by: Desus, Mero
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 659
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 582
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 583
Who could have predicted that, after a fateful meeting in a Bronx summer school in the 1990s, Desus and Mero would turn their friendship into an empire of talking to each other? And it’s no surprise — tuning in to them is like listening to the funniest, smartest people you know dissect a topic and then light it on fire.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Ah ah ah
- By Ernest Opoku on 10-21-20
By: Desus, and others
-
A Therapeutic Journey: Lessons from The School of Life
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 39
A Therapeutic Journey follows the arc from mental crisis and collapse, to convalescence and recovery. Written with kindness, knowledge and sympathy, it is both a practical guide and a source of consolation and companionship in what might be some of our loneliest, most anguished moments.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Deep, intelligent, compassionate
- By Terri Myers on 12-23-23
By: Alain de Botton
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
How to Think More Effectively
- A Guide to Greater Productivity, Insight, and Creativity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
We know that our minds are capable of great things because, every now and then, they come out with a brilliant idea or two. However, our minds are also unpredictable, spending large stretches of time idling or distracting themselves. This is a book about how to optimize these beautiful yet fitful instruments so that they can more regularly and generously produce the sort of insights and ideas we need to fulfill our potential and achieve the contentment we deserve.
-
On Confidence
- By: The School of Life, Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
We spend vast amounts of time acquiring confidence in narrow technical fields: quadratic equations or bioengineering; economics or pole vaulting. But we overlook the primordial need to acquire a more free-ranging variety of confidence - one that can serve us across a range of tasks: speaking to strangers at parties, asking someone to marry us, suggesting a fellow passenger turn down their music, changing the world. This is a guidebook to confidence, why we lack it and how we can acquire more of it in our lives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Poignant and timeless
- By Graceny Jimenez on 08-15-20
By: The School of Life, and others
-
How to Overcome Your Childhood
- How to Raise Contented, Interesting, and Resilient Children
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 49
When trying to deal with our current troubles and anxieties, it can be deeply irritating to be asked to consider our childhoods. They happened so long ago; we can probably barely remember, let alone relate to, the little person we once were. But one of the most powerful explanations for why we may, as adults, be struggling, is that we were denied the opportunity to fully be ourselves in our earliest years. This book is a guide to better understanding our younger selves in order to shape who we wish to be in the future.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An essential read.
- By Anonymous User on 12-03-23
-
What They Forgot to Teach You at School
- Essential Emotional Lessons Needed to Thrive
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 51
We probably went to school for what felt like a very long time. We probably took care with our homework. Along the way we surely learned intriguing things about equations, the erosion of glaciers, the history of the Middle Ages, and the tenses of foreign languages. But why, despite all the lessons we sat through, were we never taught the really important things that dominate and trouble our lives: who to start a relationship with, how to trust people, how to understand one’s psyche, how to move on from sorrow or betrayal, and how to cope with anxiety and shame?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 07-18-21
-
The School of Life
- An Emotional Education
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton, Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Emotional intelligence affects every aspect of the way we live, from romantic to professional relationships, from our inner resilience to our social success. It is arguably the single most important skill for surviving the twenty-first century. But what does it really mean? One decade ago, Alain de Botton founded The School of Life, an institute dedicated to understanding and improving our emotional intelligence. Now he presents the gathered wisdom of those ten years in a wide-ranging and innovative compendium of emotional intelligence that forms an introduction to The School of Life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The school of life needs to be in schools.
- By Angela pope on 02-03-23
-
On Self-Hatred
- Learning to Like Oneself
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4
Behind many of our problems lies an often ignored factor: we don’t like ourselves very much. We are sufferers of self-hatred. We tell ourselves the meanest things. It’s because of self-hatred that we tend to neglect our potential at work and get entangled in unfulfilling relationships, that we lack confidence in our social lives and suffer from anxiety, despair and imposter syndrome.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Useful ideas to reflect on
- By Kevin on 08-14-24
-
How to Think More Effectively
- A Guide to Greater Productivity, Insight, and Creativity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
We know that our minds are capable of great things because, every now and then, they come out with a brilliant idea or two. However, our minds are also unpredictable, spending large stretches of time idling or distracting themselves. This is a book about how to optimize these beautiful yet fitful instruments so that they can more regularly and generously produce the sort of insights and ideas we need to fulfill our potential and achieve the contentment we deserve.
-
On Confidence
- By: The School of Life, Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton
- Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 190
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 157
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 154
We spend vast amounts of time acquiring confidence in narrow technical fields: quadratic equations or bioengineering; economics or pole vaulting. But we overlook the primordial need to acquire a more free-ranging variety of confidence - one that can serve us across a range of tasks: speaking to strangers at parties, asking someone to marry us, suggesting a fellow passenger turn down their music, changing the world. This is a guidebook to confidence, why we lack it and how we can acquire more of it in our lives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Poignant and timeless
- By Graceny Jimenez on 08-15-20
By: The School of Life, and others
-
How to Overcome Your Childhood
- How to Raise Contented, Interesting, and Resilient Children
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 49
When trying to deal with our current troubles and anxieties, it can be deeply irritating to be asked to consider our childhoods. They happened so long ago; we can probably barely remember, let alone relate to, the little person we once were. But one of the most powerful explanations for why we may, as adults, be struggling, is that we were denied the opportunity to fully be ourselves in our earliest years. This book is a guide to better understanding our younger selves in order to shape who we wish to be in the future.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An essential read.
- By Anonymous User on 12-03-23
-
What They Forgot to Teach You at School
- Essential Emotional Lessons Needed to Thrive
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Sonya Cullingford
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 51
We probably went to school for what felt like a very long time. We probably took care with our homework. Along the way we surely learned intriguing things about equations, the erosion of glaciers, the history of the Middle Ages, and the tenses of foreign languages. But why, despite all the lessons we sat through, were we never taught the really important things that dominate and trouble our lives: who to start a relationship with, how to trust people, how to understand one’s psyche, how to move on from sorrow or betrayal, and how to cope with anxiety and shame?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful
- By Anonymous User on 07-18-21
-
The School of Life
- An Emotional Education
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Alain de Botton, Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Emotional intelligence affects every aspect of the way we live, from romantic to professional relationships, from our inner resilience to our social success. It is arguably the single most important skill for surviving the twenty-first century. But what does it really mean? One decade ago, Alain de Botton founded The School of Life, an institute dedicated to understanding and improving our emotional intelligence. Now he presents the gathered wisdom of those ten years in a wide-ranging and innovative compendium of emotional intelligence that forms an introduction to The School of Life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The school of life needs to be in schools.
- By Angela pope on 02-03-23
-
On Self-Hatred
- Learning to Like Oneself
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4
Behind many of our problems lies an often ignored factor: we don’t like ourselves very much. We are sufferers of self-hatred. We tell ourselves the meanest things. It’s because of self-hatred that we tend to neglect our potential at work and get entangled in unfulfilling relationships, that we lack confidence in our social lives and suffer from anxiety, despair and imposter syndrome.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Useful ideas to reflect on
- By Kevin on 08-14-24
-
Anxiety
- Meditations on the Anxious Mind
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 24
This is a guide to anxiety: why we feel it, how we experience it when it strikes, and what we can do when we come under its influence. Across a series of essays that look at the subject from a number of angles, the tone is helpful, compassionate, and in the best sense, practical.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Insightfulness
- By Anonymous User on 06-10-23
-
A Simpler Life
- A Guide to Greater Serenity, Ease and Clarity
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 81
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
The modern world can be a complicated, frenzied, and noisy place, filled with too many options, products, ideas and opinions. That explains why what many of us long for is simplicity: a life that can be more pared down, peaceful, and focused on the essentials. But finding simplicity is not always easy; it isn’t just a case of emptying out our closets or trimming back commitments in our diaries. True simplicity requires that we understand the roots of our distractions – and develop a canny respect for the stubborn reasons why things can grow complex and overwhelming.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Bite-size practical tips for a better life
- By Tonya Kubo on 02-12-22
-
Small Pleasures
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
We exhaust ourselves and the planet in the search for very large pleasures, while all around us lies a wealth of small pleasures, which—if we only pay more attention—can bring us solace and joy on a daily basis. This is a guidebook to life's small pleasures: everything from the distinct delight of holding a child's hand to the joy of watching the evening sky. It's an intriguing, evocative collection that will heighten our senses and return us to the world with newfound excitement and enthusiasm.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An underrated treasure
- By Anonymous User on 08-12-23
-
Stay or Leave
- How to Remain In, or End, Your Relationship
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 6
A book to offer clarity and guidance when facing the difficult decision of whether your relationship has a future. Whether we should stay in or leave a relationship is one of the most consequential and painful decisions we are ever likely to confront.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic book, hate the narrator
- By Birta Flokadottir on 08-25-24
-
The School of Life: On Failure
- How to Succeed at Defeat
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 7
This is a hopeful, consoling, gentle book about failure. Our societies talk a lot about success, but the reality is that no one gets through life without failing–in small and usually also in large ways. Sometimes our failures are very obvious, at other times, we feel we have to conceal them out of shame. This book encourages us to accept the role that failure plays for all of us and to feel compassion for ourselves for the messes we can’t help but make as we go through our lives.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
The second part of the book was really good perceived failure.
- By Anonymous User on 12-29-23
-
The Secrets of Successful Relationships
- The Secrets Series, Book 1
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
It can sometimes seem a mystery why some couples stay together and thrive—while many more split up or drag on scratchily. While we might think happy love is left to chance, there are some identifiable secrets that underpin good relationships that we can learn and put into practice. The first title of a new series, The Secrets of Successful Relationships draws upon the expertise of The School of Life therapists to teach us the key ingredients of contented love.
-
Calm
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 4 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 14
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 11
Few life skills are as neglected, yet as important, as the ability to remain calm. Our very worst decisions and interactions are almost invariably the result of a loss of calm - and a descent into anxiety and agitation. Surprisingly, but very fortunately, our power to remain calm can be rehearsed and improved. We don’t have to stay where we are now: our responses to everyday challenges can dramatically alter. This is a book that patiently unpacks the causes of our greatest stresses and gives us a succession of arguments with which to defend ourselves against panic and fury.
-
A Job to Love
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story2 out of 5 stars 1
The idea that work might be fulfilling rather than just necessary is a recent invention. These days, in prosperous areas of the world, we don't only expect to get paid, we also expect to find meaning and satisfaction. It's a big ask and explains why so many people have an identity crisis in their work lives. A Job To Love is designed to help us better understand ourselves in order to find a job that is right for us. It explores the myths, traps and confusions that get in our way, and shows us how to develop new, effective attitudes and habits.
-
A Therapeutic Journey: Lessons from The School of Life
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Charlie Anson
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 39
A Therapeutic Journey follows the arc from mental crisis and collapse, to convalescence and recovery. Written with kindness, knowledge and sympathy, it is both a practical guide and a source of consolation and companionship in what might be some of our loneliest, most anguished moments.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Deep, intelligent, compassionate
- By Terri Myers on 12-23-23
By: Alain de Botton
-
The Consolations of Philosophy
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 673
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 501
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 499
Alain de Botton has performed a stunning feat: He has transformed arcane philosophy into something accessible and entertaining, useful and kind. Drawing on the work of six of the world's most brilliant thinkers, de Botton has arranged a panoply of wisdom to guide us through our most common problems.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Cheering, empathic, helpful
- By Austin on 11-11-09
By: Alain de Botton
-
How to Find Love
- Essay Books
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 1 hr and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
-
Story0 out of 5 stars 0
Finding and choosing a partner is one of the most consequential decisions we will ever make. This guide explains everything from why we have "types" and how our early lives inform our romantic decisions as adults. It sheds light on harmful and repetitive patterns and provides insight on how to break them. Drawing on in-depth analysis, How to Find Love explains our instinct for romantic self-sabotage and provides a crucial set of ideas to help us make safer, more imaginative and more effective choices in love.
-
How to Survive the Modern World
- Making Sense of, and Finding Calm in, Unsteady Times
- By: The School of Life
- Narrated by: Rachel Lanning
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 2
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 2
How to Survive the Modern World is the ultimate guide to navigating our unusual times. It identifies a range of themes that present acute challenges to our mental wellbeing. The book tackles our relationship to the news media, our ideas of love and sex, our assumptions about money and our careers, our attitudes to animals and the natural world, our admiration for science and technology, our belief in individualism and secularism–and our suspicion of quiet and solitude.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
school of life - yes. Narrator - no
- By Kindle Customer on 04-08-25
succinct and insightful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Learn to talk and listen to yourself
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
just writing because it tells me I need at least 15 words which sucks!
pretty short and inspirational
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
terrible voice
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Unable to listen due to annoying ring tone
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.