Just the calm I needed. Our family is in a year of chaos and this was the perfect book I needed. I enjoyed sharing the pictures with my little ones. I loved how much it encouraged them to ask questions about what and where the pictures were from. Personally I enjoyed the essays that went with each wonderful photograph. It gave me a chance to unwind and reflect. My favorites are the photos of the sky, especially the storms, like Lighting in the Rice Field by Athapet Puruska. Each essay gave me something new to think about. I really enjoyed this book.
I received this as an ebook ARC but can’t wait to add this to my own collection at home. You will enjoy this and your mind will thank you.

Returning readers will be aware that I love a book about finding peace, or calm, or tranquility, so it's no surprise that I requested and recieved a free copy of this from NetGalley. I meditate and try to live in the moment and mindfully and all that. This book appealed to me for the title, and the front cover image.

The description states this is:

A psychological guidebook that can help to quieten our worries and bring on a new mood of serenity and ease.
Knowing how to be calm is one of life’s greatest skills. It doesn’t matter how well our own life is going; if our mind is frantic, happiness will always be just out of reach.

...it takes us systematically through the many things that unsettle us and arrives at a range of solutions to ease our spirits.

Which is correct, but I was not expecting what I got, which is truly thoughtful and thoughtful essays. These were definitely more critical than I was excepting, musing on the challenges of modern life, critiques of advertising, the beauty of both nature and babies. This book is both beautiful and thoughtful. The photographs are stunning and closely related to the texts. I would be very pleased if someone gave me a hard copy of this as a present, it would make a good basis for conversation, or for sitting alone and contemplating both text and images.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.


I truly expected a book filled with sky pictures and the occasional field. What I got was so much better. calm actual challenged my thoughts and flipped my thoughts process a few times. I true love in a book

This book is not what I expected, neither in images nor in the commentary/meditations.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #TheSchoolOfLife for a free copy of #CalmIn40Images by The School of Life. All opinions are my own.

Calm in 40 Images by The School of Life is a philosophical look at man's ongoing desire to increase calmness, contentment, and serenity and decrease the anxiety and stress in our lives.

Forty short essays paired with photos or art works give thoughts on how to do just that.

Thought-provoking, and yes, calming, this would be a good coffee table book to have for reference.

My thanks to The School of Life for allowing me access to a DRC of this book via NetGalley. Publication is 9/3/24. All thoughts expressed in this review are my own and are freely given.

I was looking forward to a break from my daily life with this book and was expecting calming images with a few quotes or small texts related to calmness. Unfortunately I was very disappointed. Should be advertised differently.

This title offers exactly what it says calm in 40 images. The images are by influential artists and the essays are good company. The School of Life is always consistent with their quality and this book is a nice addition to their collections. The essays in this book carry a heavier weight than the images, which are unique and high quality but not immediately calm evoking.

I think what the creator of the book did was they wrote the words to create calm in images that would not have gave me that feeling and to me... that was unique. I was expecting images that would evoke calm in all. But with pictures of lightening, statue heads, a large group of people, those naturally wouldn't be what I would envision as calm. But I think that was the authors point. To take all circumstances and give you the wealth of knowledge to unlock the calm regardless.

Here is a snippet of what some of their insight in the book was: "We begin life with naive expectations; with time we are so knocked around that we grow filled with rage and frustration. Then – eventually – we may be fortunate enough to acquire realism and serenity. But if we are truly lucky, once we have properly absorbed the chaos of the human condition and said a conclusive goodbye to vanity and pride, we can move on to the last and perhaps best phase: we can start to laugh, darkly and warmly, at the troubled seas we’re fated always to have to sail on."

Interesting book, thought provoking and I liked what it is trying to teach the reader. I gave only 3 stars because for me, it rang a little more negative than positive at times. Which I know that was because they were trying to promote a real point of view and not an unrealistic one. But all in all, it's a good book.

The authors of this title observe that they, like all of us, become anxious at times. They hope that this book will make things a bit easier for whoever picks it up.

In these pages are a series of images. To the left of each image is a short essay with something to contemplate and, hopefully, for the reader to take away.

A reader can dip in and out as they choose. Hopefully, this book’s intended audience will find comfort in these pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley and The School of Life for this title. All opinions are my own.

Calm in 40 Images is a unique and interesting collection of images paired with thoughtful and calm inducing text. The images are beautiful, and I liked the simplistic layout of this book, as it added to the calming effect.
This book would make a beautiful addition to any coffee table or desk for a little peaceful interlude to your day.

Thanks to NetGalley and The School of Life for early access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review. I was pleasantly surprised.

Wow, what a beautiful collection.

I found the idea of a book being able to calm me laughable, honestly. Next thing I know, I was sitting in my dentist's office reading this book's eARC and everyone in the waiting room is looking around. I look around, too. Then hear the hygienist say my name for what must be the second or third time.

I don't know the last time I zoned out like that, that wasn't either dissociation or an internal melt-down from stress (motherhood, oof). To feel so disconnected while also maintaining a sense of calm was wonderful.

I also want to credit The School of Life for how much work must have been put into the text that accompanies each image. To leave a reader with such a strong feeling of hope while also avoiding platitudes or cliches is no small feat.

This would make the perfect waiting room or living room coffee table book, especially if it's in an area that typically has a feeling of tension (aka me, in the dentist's office).

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, The School of Life, and publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!}

A very stunning book. Simple but calming.

The pictures are gorgeous and the words to go with them are very true and to the point.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC