Love is a wide concept and there is a lot to explore with love. The attachment theory was the foundation of love and even the ongoing trends in dating apps. It's divided into short explanations but packed and well-written.
The best part that I like is, that we cannot talk about love excluding self-love. Love is not always about others, but also inward. There are a lot of things unexplained about love, we don't have a class about love at school. This book can be a good introduction to know more about love.

Thank you, The School of Life!

Essential Ideas: Love - The school of life

This was my first time reading a book from The School of Life and I liked how accessible it was. On a personal note it wasn't massively helpful for me, but could see how it would be for others. I am interested to see other topics in the series. Many thanks to The School of Life for this e-arc in return for my honest thoughts and opinions

This book was my first introduction to The School of Life and its Essential Ideas series. I appreciated the format and organization of the book, which was quick and easy to digest. I especially liked the essays on "Love as Education" and "Love as Generosity," in which they refer to (or at least, attribute some ideas to) Plato and Socrates, which aligns with its Classicist perspective and got me on board with some of the hole-poking in Romantic ideals of love. However, there are some other ideas forwarded in this book that I strongly disagreed with and even think can be dangerous in some situations. In one rebuke to romanticism (which, itself, is fine) it advises us that partnerships are "likely to be disappointing yet deeply real and ultimately 'good enough.'" I don't think we should be encouraging people to measure their relationships by the yardstick of whether they are just "good enough," or encourage them to stay in disappointing relationships. This is how people stay trapped in abusive or toxic situations -- because "well I guess could be worse." Also, the book is pretty anti-monogramy, which again is OK, but then it borrows LGBTQ ideals of acceptance to form a sort of post-deviance model of sexuality and attempts to use this to justify cheating -- "any taste or proclivity must by definition be acceptable." I think it's kind of offensive to the LGBTQ community to imply that polyamory and even infidelity (which are not really separated in this text) is a sexual orientation rather than a choice. In further defense of non-monogramy, the authors then urge us to accept that "the very rare cases where love and sex run together are astonishing exceptions." This is a bit of a sweeping generalization; call me an idealist, but I think it's pretty normal to enjoy love and sex together with the same person, and to expect one's partner to do the same. So while I found the pessimistic undertones of some of the "lessons" offputting, particularly the ones that encourage readers to accept and tolerate disappointing and unfaithful partners, I did find it insightful and humorous in others. The final essay, for example, is a fun way to end the book, with a discussion of unrequited love and crushing from afar: "On the basis of a few charming outside details, we assume that the target of our passion may miraculously have escaped the fundamentals of the human condition. They haven't. We just haven't got to know them properly."

The School of Life Essential Ideas series: Love contains terminologies that we know as “love” like, “kissing”, “monogamy,” “single” etc.

It is like a dictionary, but in TSOL style: beautifully written and try to tackle the romantic idea of love, instead giving the readers realistic approach of what love is.

This book actually is a quick read. It’s only 90s pages. But unfortunately I found this kinda boring. Perhaps because I already read TSOL’s Relationship before and there are same ideas on several terms from this book.

For those of you who never read TSOL’s Relationship, Essential Ideas: Love is also can be read as your “introduction” to know about realistic love without being shocked that TSOL “deny” romantic idea of love.

This book will be officially published on November 2024. I read ARC version from NetGalley.

Essential Ideas: Love by The School of Life is a thoughtful and insightful exploration of one of life’s most profound emotions. The book delves into the complexities of love, from romantic relationships to self-love and the bonds we share with friends and family. The School of Life's approach is both philosophical and practical, offering readers a deeper understanding of the nature of love, how it evolves, and the challenges it brings. With a blend of psychology, philosophy, and real-world wisdom, Essential Ideas: Love provides readers with valuable tools for cultivating healthier and more meaningful connections. It’s an enlightening and accessible read, perfect for anyone seeking a greater awareness of the role love plays in shaping our emotional lives and relationships.

Thank you for letting me read this book. It's my first time reading a book from The School of Life. It makes me curious because one of my acquaintances often shares the books.

Unfortunately, it doesn't meet my expectations. Well, I should understand this book as essential from the beginning because of the title but I don't expect it's so compact. The book doesn't touch my needs but I get the points of the notions tried to deliver.

From 1-2 sentences I highlight from several chapters, this book could be a starter to dip deeper into love. But I disagree with several notions that are mentioned in books like the gender perspective of LGBT and the perspective of sex that should not only be fulfilled through marriage as it may not be the main goal of marriage (as long as one can be responsible for other responsibilities earned in marriage).

An interesting read that sums up love in modern times. Direct and genuine, a must keep on the coffee table for guests to enjoy a quick but enlightening text.

3.5 stars

This is a short book, like a dictionary, taking themes related to love and expanding upon them. All in a "classical" view as the authors say. What it certainly is - is a mature view on love, departing and trying to fix the "romanticism" view that gets us in messy beliefs and situations. This I can agree with.

But, for someone who thinks a lot about love, this book left me with a lot of questions, a lot of half agreements: some things I agree with only to a half point where it all goes in a direction I, at least, need to explore, if not meet it with a disagreement.

What saddened me the most is the fact that, overall, I didn't get the end game: how does a relationship look like based on all these ideas, other than the meeting of 2 imperfect people?! Maybe it was a view too "classical" for me to appreciate, with a sort of stoic vibe about it. Or maybe these are just someone's ideas and that is that.

I'm grateful to have received a copy of this, for me it's a valuable book for it's a conversation starter and an invitation to think about one's position on love. That may or may not be the one written here.

Essential Ideas: Love is a brief run-down of love in life. It discusses things like conflict, infidelity, monogamy and attachment styles. It was entertaining enough to read for a short book and offered exactly what it advertises, but it did just feel like a lot of common sense and common knowledge put together.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I actually learn a lot from this book. There were things here which I've never heard about and it blew my mind. Especially the one about how our parents love us while growing up, can affect the way we love our partners now that we are older. It's a short book but concise. I have written lots of quotes from this book which I like and want to remember.

This is one of quotes I like from this book “This view of love was developed in Ancient Greece, prompted particularly by the philosophical ideas of Socrates and Plato. As they saw it, the task of love is first and foremost to educate one’s lover. We don’t love someone because we think they are perfect already, but because we can see what they could be; we love their potential and their emergent (but not yet fully developed) qualities. Their deep attachment to us means that we have an ideal opportunity for guiding and shaping their development towards the articulation of their full potential. Love is mutually supportive structure in which two people can guide one another to their respective virtuous ideal selves.”

Definitely recommended to everyone who wants a short book but full of learnings. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

The opening did not immediately grip me, though immediately after, I was engaged thanks to the appropriateness and astuteness of the language, the insights and the ability of this title (author and TSoL) in conveying life’s truths in such a concise, pocket book format.
The range of topics within the wide topic of love is great, and I like the unique perspective of these series - always built on the principles of The School of Life; the acceptance of our flawed selves and others.

Although I have to admit at first I was picturing this book as a condensed reminiscence of previous works about this very same topic, I have been pleasantly surprised by the final outcome. Not only does the pages offer small doses about different topics regarding love, but they also display insightful revelations and discussions for all the general public, which could help us to engage better with our loved ones.

In conclusion, this quick read is, without doubt, smart, direct, discerning and appealing.