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How to Think More About Sex (School of Life)

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How to Think More About Sex (School of Life) Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

We don't think too much about sex; were merely thinking about it in the wrong way. So asserts Alain de Botton in this rigorous and supremely honest book designed to help us navigate the intimate and exciting — yet often confusing and difficult — experience that is sex. Few of us tend to feel were entirely normal when it comes to sex, and what were supposed to be feeling rarely matches up with the reality. This book argues that twenty-first-century sex is ultimately fated to be a balancing act between love and desire, and adventure and commitment. Covering topics that include lust, fetishism, adultery, and pornography, Alain de Botton frankly articulates the dilemmas of modern sexuality, offering insights and consolation to help us think more deeply and wisely about the sex we are, or aren't, having.

Review:

"'Few of us are remotely normal sexually,' de Botton (The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work) writes in this accessible philosophical meditation. But though 'we are universally deviant,' the author opines that we are thus 'only in relation to some highly distorted ideals of normality.' Acknowledging that feelings of aberrancy are 'aggravated by the idea that we belong to a liberated age,' de Botton goes on to explore, in two illuminating sections, 'The Pleasures' and 'The Problems of Sex.' The former addresses topics like biological and physiological reactions to sex, fetishes, fashion, and the subjectivity of beauty, while the latter deals with impotency, sexual rejection, pornography, adultery, and more. De Botton is never prescriptive, and the intellectual rigor of his investigation prevents this book from settling into a self-help reference guide. After all, his aim is to guide readers in how to think about sex in a different way, not to teach them how to have it. While he hypothesizes that the world would be far simpler if sex were taken out of the equation, the pragmatic yet optimistic de Botton concludes that 'the pain sex causes us' is worth it, 'for without it we wouldn't know art and music quite so well.' Agent: Caroline Dawnay, United Agents (U.K.)." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review:

"Even if our sexual partners don't excite us, this writers piquant prose will." More

Review:

"By encouraging readers to understand their desires and manifestations of sexuality in new and more reflective ways, de Botton's addition to the School of Life series offers a tantalizing discourse on this endlessly fascinating, and eternally misunderstood, subject." Booklist

Review:

"[de Botton] offers a collection of essays that, taken as a whole, serve to pull sexuality into a philosophical consideration of our drives and desires, to illuminate how we can make sense of the urges that drive us senseless....A well-rounded examination of the ways we can marry intelligent thought and physical pleasure." Kirkus Reviews
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About the Author

Alain de Botton is the bestselling author of How Proust Can Change Your Life, as well as numerous other works of fiction and essays. He is well-known for making complex philosophical and artistic subjects accessible for a wider audience. De Botton founded the School of Life, a series of lectures in London that aim to make academic learning applicable to real life. With the success of the school, this concept was adapted into The School of Life book series. De Botton lives and works in London.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
QuemDixereChaos, January 30, 2013 (view all comments by QuemDixereChaos)
While reading this book, I found myself asking more questions about what role sex plays in human life, a subject which I've looked over before either because I believed that other parts of intimate relationships were more important or because I assumed that sex is merely the product of irrational desire. Botton does, in fact, introduce the evolutionary hypothesis - that sex fulfills the purpose of continuing and improving the species - but reveals that this does not explain why we may be interested in certain healthy individuals over others (who are equally healthy). He undertakes the task of explaining aesthetics as an integral part of the process of finding a mate, and explores the phenomena of fetishes and roleplaying, which are tricky to understand.

This may be listed in the self-help section, but keep in mind that it is also a work of philosophy. Like all works, it doesn't give you a particular 'guide' on how to deal with issues involving sex, but it gives very good explanations on why people behave certain ways when confronted the subject.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781250030658
Author:
de Botton, Alain
Publisher:
Picador
Author:
Alain de Botton
Author:
Alain de Botton
Subject:
Human Sexuality
Subject:
Social Psychology
Subject:
Psychology : General
Edition Description:
Trade Paper with Flaps
Publication Date:
20121224
Binding:
Electronic book text in proprietary or open standard format
Language:
English
Pages:
192
Dimensions:
7.125 x 5 in
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Related Subjects

Featured Titles » General
Featured Titles » Spirituality and Wellness
Health and Self-Help » Health and Medicine » Sex
Health and Self-Help » Psychology » General
Health and Self-Help » Sexuality » General

How to Think More About Sex (School of Life) New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$16.00 In Stock
Product details 192 pages Picador - English 9781250030658 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "'Few of us are remotely normal sexually,' de Botton (The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work) writes in this accessible philosophical meditation. But though 'we are universally deviant,' the author opines that we are thus 'only in relation to some highly distorted ideals of normality.' Acknowledging that feelings of aberrancy are 'aggravated by the idea that we belong to a liberated age,' de Botton goes on to explore, in two illuminating sections, 'The Pleasures' and 'The Problems of Sex.' The former addresses topics like biological and physiological reactions to sex, fetishes, fashion, and the subjectivity of beauty, while the latter deals with impotency, sexual rejection, pornography, adultery, and more. De Botton is never prescriptive, and the intellectual rigor of his investigation prevents this book from settling into a self-help reference guide. After all, his aim is to guide readers in how to think about sex in a different way, not to teach them how to have it. While he hypothesizes that the world would be far simpler if sex were taken out of the equation, the pragmatic yet optimistic de Botton concludes that 'the pain sex causes us' is worth it, 'for without it we wouldn't know art and music quite so well.' Agent: Caroline Dawnay, United Agents (U.K.)." Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review" by , "Even if our sexual partners don't excite us, this writers piquant prose will."
"Review" by , "By encouraging readers to understand their desires and manifestations of sexuality in new and more reflective ways, de Botton's addition to the School of Life series offers a tantalizing discourse on this endlessly fascinating, and eternally misunderstood, subject."
"Review" by , "[de Botton] offers a collection of essays that, taken as a whole, serve to pull sexuality into a philosophical consideration of our drives and desires, to illuminate how we can make sense of the urges that drive us senseless....A well-rounded examination of the ways we can marry intelligent thought and physical pleasure."
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