THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Give the gift of inspiration an essential guide to living wisely and well no matter what challenges the world throws at you from Alain de Botton the bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy The Art of Travel and The Course of LoveThis is a book about everything you were never taught at school. Its about how to understand your emotions find and sustain love succeed in your career fail well and overcome shame and guilt. Its 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 book 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 Praise for Alain de BottonWhat he has managed to do is remarkable to help us think better so that we may live better lives Irish TimesA serious and optimistic set of practical ideas that could improve and alter the way we live Jeanette Winterson The TimesAlain de Botton likes to take big complex subjects and write about them with thoughtful and deceptive innocence Observer