On Confidence

By: The School of Life, Alain de Botton

Narrated by: Alain de Botton

A thought-provoking essay that teaches us that confidence is not a gift from the gods, but a skill that can be learned.

We spend vast amounts of time acquiring confidence in narrow technical fields: quadratic equations or bioengineering; economics or pole vaulting. But we overlook the primordial need to acquire a more free-ranging variety of confidence - one that can serve us across a range of tasks: speaking to strangers at parties, asking someone to marry us, suggesting a fellow passenger turn down their music, changing the world.

This is a guidebook to confidence, why we lack it and how we can acquire more of it in our lives. On Confidence walks us gently and wryly around the key issues that stop us from making more of our potential.

©2020 The School of Life (P)2020 The School of Life

Really liked it

It's always a pleasure to listen to de Botton's, he's very intelligent and he thinks a lot like me, despite him being an atheist, I still enjoy his books a lot

Always like their books

A good foundation on understanding confidence. I wish it added how to build confidence as well.

Favorite this

This book is an exquisite relief from either the shrinking of insecurity or false bravado of a “name it and claim it” kind of confidence. In both content and performance, it offers a substantive and galvanizing perspective of what confidence really is, and why it matters in living a fulfilled and wholesome life. Listen to it every month.

Poignant and timeless

The School of Life and Alain de Botton can be the best friends we never had during these trying times (review written August 2020). This book is only an hour long, but a great listen to and from long commutes. If you're familiar with their YouTube films it can feel bit redundant. But if like me, you tend to forget things quickly, the familiarity the content is part of its charm.

Great Book

It is amazing how a relatively short book can be such a dense one. The contents are always relevant, and you can always get back to it and re-listen as if it was the first time. Extremely recommended!