Having long been a fan of The School of Life, I will be likely to recommend this as a good place to start for readers not familiar with its ideas. For such a small book it packs a punch - filled with concepts, each explained in an accessible manner.

Self awareness is an important topic for me, and I feel this book covered it quite nicely.

I've read some of the School of Life's books and I think this one represents best their ideas. There is a lot of talk here about emotional maters and a lot of related ideas to what it means to be a mature person.

As all their books, it's a collection of ideas, some come with a couple of inquiries that can help one start their journey into knowing themselves better.

I am grateful to have received this in order to share my view on it, from all the book I've read from them this one would be my first recommendation.

I feel like I say this often, but this book is one I wish everyone would read. It has lots of nuggets of wisdom that are fantastic to be reminded of every now and then. This isn’t a replacement for therapy, but if you never intend to go to therapy, this book is a great way to begin understanding yourself.

It’s a small, easily digestible book that cuts to the point. It would be a nice book to dip in and out of every now and then if you need a boost sometimes. I’ll definitely be buying multiple copies of this for people I know in the least passive-aggressive way possible!

The only drawbacks of the book are that it’s not really possible to fully know yourself, it’s a constant journey, and that journey isn’t normative or linear as parts of this book suggest. So not all aspects of this book are suitable for everyone; it’s important to pick and choose parts that are relevant and leave behind what’s not. I’m not sure I would advocate for pessimism as this book seems to do but each to their own!

So, definitely recommend this book, it really is an essential in life and it’s a great starting point for harnessing self-awareness.

If you already familiar with The School of Life's book and approach, this book is not really giving you new insights. Instead, this is a collection of ideas that had been elaborated through their books. This book is like a dictionary, you can easily read their compact explanation about self-awareness. Of course, with their approach.

I love School of Life for the bite-sized ideas it offers. Sometimes, you don't necessarily want to read a dissertation on self-awareness. Rather, you want the ideas presented to be boiled down to their most important parts, so as to grasp the topic without doing the research yourself..

Essential Ideas: Self-Awareness by The School of Life is an insightful exploration of what it means to be self-aware, drawing on psychology, philosophy, and sociology to unpack the complexity of understanding ourselves. It offers practical frameworks and questions to encourage deeper introspection, making it a useful guide for those looking to increase self-awareness in their daily lives.

However, one potential drawback is that it leans heavily into the self-help genre, occasionally feeling oversimplified for readers seeking a more rigorous or nuanced exploration of the subject. While the book provides solid advice, its tone can sometimes be too prescriptive, offering solutions in a way that feels formulaic rather than thought-provoking.

For readers looking for a balanced blend of philosophical reflection and practical advice, it might feel like it skews too much toward the latter, prioritizing actionable tips over deeper conceptual discussions. But for those new to self-awareness or seeking immediate, practical steps to implement, this straightforwardness could be a positive feature.

In summary, Essential Ideas: Self-Awareness is valuable for those looking for an accessible entry into the topic, but it may feel too focused on "self-improvement" for readers seeking a more intellectual or philosophical deep dive.

Under a hundred pages, this little book conveys a lot of useful information and provoked much thought. It is well written and clearly organized and presented, like summaries of good college lectures. (And note, the language is professorial and British. Not everyone will love the structure and phrasing, but I enjoyed it.).
It is definitely more geared toward concepts than implementation. It’s not a self-help book, it is gentle ruminations to help us better understand out thought processes (and emotions). Here are just a few areas that really struck me:
- The chapter on emotional intelligence was particularly resonant, contrasting our enormous global advancements in technology with the lack of advancement in emotional intelligence – and the inherent dangers in that imbalance.
- The “Good Enough” chapter was great, teaching us to stop expecting perfection, or “idealization”, whether in a job search or even marriage, but especially applied to ourselves and our own abilities.
- The take on insomnia was reframed as giving ourselves a chance to think: to confront specific issues we’ve put off dealing with.
My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Montlake for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Essential Ideas: Self-awareness gives me a similar impression as its sibling—Essential Ideas: Love: doesn't really meet my needs, only gives the main/surface idea of the notions. It is quite helpful for the started and light reading but can't give insight as to problem-solving.

Both of the books remind me about the importance of relations with parents and how our parents' relations are. It establishes the foundation of many relations in life: to ourselves, our parents, others—friends, lovers, partners, and even how we see the world.

This book quite matches my currency issue which makes me need to peek at my childhood a lot.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book in advance ✨

Self-awareness is something hard to achieve these days. Since most of us are addicted to dopamine, being aware of ourselves is hard to achieve. It takes time and a lot of discipline.

This book teaches about things we need to be aware in order to truly know ourselves. I like how short and concise it is. It captivates the important things which we might have forgotten or neglected, but is important in being self-aware.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the book:

“When we nowadays try to articulate the purpose of our lives, it is to the word ‘happiness’ that we commonly have recourse. We tell ourselves and others that the ultimate rationale for our jobs, our relationships and the conduct of our day-to-day lives is the pursuit of happiness. It sounds like an innocent enough idea, but excessive reliance on the term means that we are frequently unfairly tempted to exit or at least heavily question a great many testing but worthwhile situations.”

“A ‘good enough’ life is not a bad life. It’s the best existence that humans are ever likely to lead.”

“There is wisdom in accepting that the inner idiot will never go away and that we should therefore endeavour to form a good working relationship with it.”

“Moments of losing courage belong to a brave life. If we do not allow ourselves frequent occasions to bend, we will be at great risk of one day fatefully snapping.”

“Maturity could be defined as: knowing what triggers us and why – and a commitment to patient exploration and understanding of the past.”

Overall this book is a short and good read. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reading copy.

I hereby dedicate this book and all other relevant books in this series to Donald Trump, hoping he hasn't forgotten to read. It's short enough for his limited intellect and that of his supporters, too. For all the rest of you, this book is a nice summary of what most of us already know.

This book from The School of Life is thought provoking, insightful and explores our life long pursuit of “knowing ourselves” in the kindest and most thoughtful of ways.

This book is a series of short essays (25 in total, 1-3 pages each) that explore different ideas on self-awareness that will set you on a path to understanding yourself.

I loved the format, allowing me to read an essay with my morning coffee, pondering the ideas and taking something from each of them to consider or apply for myself. Reading some of the essays to my husband and discuss how they resonate differently to both of us.

I loved how the book takes popular and common concepts or issues, such as anxiety, self-sabotage or defensiveness without simply providing cliche definitions, condescension and tactics, but instead finds the perfect balance of exploration with depth and thoughtfulness that make you think and reflect well after you put the book down.

Overall, this book had an uplifting and hopeful impact on me, as it deals with each of the topics raised with so much kindness and gentility that I didn’t feel “bad” for not having figured things out yet, but was rather left optimistic that with age comes wisdom and insight and there is so much to gain if we only have the courage to keep on the path of self-exploration.

At the risk of repeating myself, I absolutely loved everything about this book. I read it way too fast and will certainly read it again and again, depending on what I need to “hear/read” at any given time. I most certainly will purchase a “real” copy when this gem becomes available in print.

There is a philosophical flair to this book, if this is your thing, you will - like me - absolutely delight in this book. If you are looking for a self-help book on how to become a more self aware that is filled with Do’s and Dont’s, clear tactics and scientific explanations, keep browsing as this is not that book!

It certainly helps that except for a few points in this book, that my values and perspectives are in line with those in this title.
I see this title as a condensed and focused summary on the best practices of self-awareness; the name, Essential Ideas is a great fit for this book.
This is a non-fiction book written with clear prose and structured into different core elements of self-awareness.

Love it. I enjoyed the positive flow of the book through the various points of Self-Awareness and actuality. The simplicity of the explanations of each topic redirected the book from a textbook to a reference book. If possible, could you have the author reach out to me? My email address is wpslater@yahoo.com. Thank you