I read most of this during a week when I was traveling for my grandmother's funeral, and this was like a gentle hug for my brain.

I have been a fan of Alain de Botton and The School of Life for quite some time, so when I saw this on the shelves at my local bookstore, I purchased it immediately.

Occasionally I was a little bit frustrated by how dialed into a particular audience this book felt -- highly educated, upper-middle class, pursuing competitive professional careers. I fall into parts of that, obviously, but sometimes the advice in this book felt a bit limited by being locked into a particular worldview. Particular definitions of stability, relationships, etc.

But overall I did love this, and needed its gentle tone of compassionate understanding that week in particular. ( )

Brilliant insights from Alain de Botton on the education we need but never got at school. De botton’s thesis is that the most important knowledge we can have is of ourselves. We need to understand why we react the way we do, in what way we are a little bit crazy, and the lens we bring to understanding the world. There is lots of psychotherapeutic insights made accessible for the reader. While the author is an atheist committed to stoicism, many of his ideas (not all) borrow heavily from a monotheistic worldview and therefore neatly illustrate the wisdom of the Bible’s outlook on life. Specially, de botton is convinced our romantic view of love and ourselves will fail us, and a healthy view of ours and our lovers trickiness (read sin) is essential to living well.

De botton is least helpful when talking about sexual fantasy where he jettisons restraint and seems to undermine everything he has hitherto said about the importance of trust and intimacy in relationships. ( )