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.