The Meaning of Life by The School of Life

Big title. The book is smarter than the title suggests.

This isn't a self-help book promising to unlock life's purpose. It's a curated tour through philosophies, ideas, and perspectives on what makes life feel meaningful. The School of Life presents these without dogma, which I respect.

The opening idea is the most important one: meaning isn't singular. It's not one grand purpose. It's a web — family, work, friendships, nature, art. All interconnected. I found this framing liberating. The pressure to find "the one thing" you're meant to do is exhausting and, frankly, misleading.

The chapter on work and purpose challenged me. It argues that meaningful work isn't about the job title or the output. It's about understanding how your work connects to something larger. As an engineer, I think about this often. The code I write matters less than the problems it solves for real people. This chapter reinforced that.

The section on love and connection hit home. We underestimate how much relationships drive our sense of meaning. In tech, it's easy to optimize for productivity and forget the people around you. A coffee with a friend. A dinner with family. These aren't interruptions — they're the point.

What I appreciate most: the book doesn't pretend to have answers. It presents frameworks for thinking, pulls from philosophers across centuries, and lets you sit with the questions. That honesty is rare.

Where it falls short: the book can feel surface-level. Each topic gets a chapter but not the depth it deserves. It's a sampler platter of philosophy, not a full course. If you want rigor, read the original philosophers it references. This is a starting point, not a destination.

The tone also leans a bit precious at times. The School of Life brand carries a certain polished, Instagram-philosophy aesthetic that can feel detached from the messiness of real life.

Read this if you're in a reflective season. If you're questioning what matters. It won't give you the answer, but it'll give you better questions to ask.