The School of Life Dictionary

by The School of Life

The School of Life's dictionary of emotional intelligence brings us the vocabulary we need in order to understand ourselves, others, and the world around us.

A dictionary is a guide to a language. This one is a guide to the language of emotions and a tool to help us express our truest selves.

Through an alphabetical selection of over 200 words and phrases (FOMO, existential angst, unrequited love, imposter syndrome, to name a few), The School of Life offers us a complete vocabulary with which to understand our emotions and to communicate them successfully.

Genres: Philosophy, Reference, Psychology, Self Help, Spirituality

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

The School of Life is a global organisation helping people lead more fulfilled lives.

We believe that the journey to finding fulfilment begins with self-knowledge. It is only when we have a sense of who we really are that we can make reliable decisions, particularly around love and work.

Sadly, tools and techniques for developing self-knowledge and finding fulfilment are hard to find – they’re not taught in schools, in universities, or in workplaces. Too many of us go through life without ever really understanding what’s going on in the recesses of our minds.

That’s why we created The School of Life; a resource for helping us understand ourselves, for improving our relationships, our careers and our social lives - as well as for helping us find calm and get more out of our leisure hours. We do this through films, workshops, books and gifts - as well as through a warm and supportive community.

Reviews

[Julius · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most thought-provoking, deepest, and memorable books I've ever read. If you struggle to see every day things in a different life or want to change your perspective and improve EQ, get this book.

[Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a refreshing read. I have never stumbled upon such a concept (a dictionary on modern terms) and I highly recommend this book to any introspective readers.

The term selection is a little odds. You can find here terms such as long term love, romantic disappointment, FOMO, changing the world, rough sex, getting an early night, etc. All terms mentioned are either 1 or 2 pages long, which is very readable, yet takes a focused mind to comprehend.

I borrowed this book from a friend (thanks Zeid!) so I could only skim it for a few days. However, cramming doesn't cut it for this book. I'd be better off reading one page a day rather than reading it intensively.

The downside is sometimes it gets a little boring, which is not the case for all terminologies, but it does get sleepy at times. I can hear the narrator from The School Of Life Youtube videos just by reading these pages. Haunting...

A quote I like from a random page on Ugliness:

"Most of us are, to some extend, ugly. We should accept with Stoic good grace that personal appearance is simply one of the least democratic parts of life. We tend to misunderstand how common ugliness is, in part because the images in the media always highlight the pretty ones. In truth, beauty is as rare as mass murder. The problem is that we tend to think there are far more murders than there are."

[Hugo Ahlberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the ideas of philosophy in brief (1 page on average) and easy to read explanations in the style of School of Life / Alain de Botton. I'm sure I'll revisit some chapters for reference in the future. I found it perfect to read about one to two passages per day rather than 'binge'.

[Christina]

On "Artistic Philanthropy":

The hope is that, by a circuitous route, these values will become – even if only a little – more powerful in reality. In the ideal scenario, they will radiate out from the gallery and shape the way we lead our lives. Yet the money that paid for them may have been accumulated under a very different vision of life: workers were paid the least possible amounts; only the responsibilities enforced by law were embraced; governments were lobbied to reduce consumer and environmental protection; quality was reduced as low as the market would allow; debts were paid slowly but creditors were hounded. Oddly, in their business, the artistic philanthropist had the opportunity to make real – on a large scale – the qualities they subsequently sought to honour in their gifts. Yet very often they did not. It would be better to repatriate the ambition and for the capitalists to be themselves the agents of the virtues they admire in the arts. The cost (in terms of cash) might be approximately the same. Their businesses might be a little less profitable year by year and they might not feel they had enough left over to lavish on the arts. But it would be no loss, for instead of hanging reticently on a wall, those values so ably captured in art – of friendship, love, wisdom and beauty – would be enacted day to day in the boardroom and the canteen, the distribution centre and the factory – in other words, in the vastly more consequential realm of commerce itself.

On "Bad Taste":

What singles out ‘bad taste’ is merely that the desire for compensation has grown particularly acute because the deprivation has been correspondingly intense. Those who have experienced crushing poverty will, if the opportunity arises, often adopt a gaudy style derived from the most gilded aspects of the palace of Versailles. Those whose lives are excessively harsh may favour garden gnomes, enormous and brightly coloured stuffed toys and sentimental trinkets. In every instance of bad taste, we find an over-eager embracing of a good quality – sweetness, freedom, fun or prosperity – that is, or once was, in very short supply in the owner’s life. Bad taste can appall, but once one understands its origins, sympathy is a more appropriate response. What is ‘bad’ in bad taste is not the person, but the prior difficulty for which they are seeking to compensate through their décor. There is no point in mocking or offering lectures about art history. The problem isn’t a lack of information. It is a trauma created by a badly broken and unbalanced world. Therefore, the solution to bad taste is, in the broad sense, political. Good taste comes about when people feel appreciated, when there’s enough to go around and when there’s an economy that doesn’t routinely humiliate and abase its members. To make good taste more widespread, what matters above all are efforts to diminish the desperate lives in which lapses of taste invariably have their origins.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the School of Life's ambition, for all their flaws. They can simplify things to make a point, and they romanticize classicism--but their ambition, to make philosophy more accessible and part of everyday life is admirable.

This is kind of a quick summary of the movement's ideas, positions, etc. Even though it's a "dictionary" it's almost along the lines of a tract.

[Greg K · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting attempt to bring the “good sense” into the mainstream. Wether or not it will be effective is a subject to a later review, but the fact that they’ve really tried hard, from content to presentation is admirable. The print is of extremely high quality.

[Jay Henson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never write reviews, but this is about as life-changing of a book as you will ever come across. I can't recommend it enough. Read one or two entries a day over the course of several months and you will feel yourself changing for the better.

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant repository of ideas, as always!

[Yiliang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superficial

[Sue Dounim]

I'm on my second reading of this.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peak SOL

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to see more of books like this.
Modern definition for words that are important in our everyday lives.