The Art of Loving

Perhaps the most important - and beautiful - book I've ever read … This represents the culmination of Fromm's work, distilled into a single, unified argument: love is (or ought to be) the essential feature of human life. The premise of this book, together with its key tenets, is of primary importance. While some minor aspects of this work are now dated, it remains - for the most part - a timeless classic. This book offers guidance concerning how to understand and practice loving relations. Although quite short, the reader is nonetheless presented with a wealth of knowledge. It's written for the layperson, and doesn't require any expertise.

I was a little worried the content of this book would be beyond me (having no background or formal education in any of the core subjects such as philosophy, religion and psychoanalysis) but it turned out to be a riveting read. At times a little heavy and requiring a re-read of some paragraphs it nonetheless avoids any jargon and seems to do a good job of justifying all of the points made.It is at heart more a book about what love can considered to be rather than a manual on how to love better. The latter being given only a short section at the back and concentrating on techniques not unlike meditation (mostly along the theme of living the life that is now, being open in spirit and being honest with yourself, who you should learn to love first).The descriptions of various types of love and what can and does go wrong in childhood are fascinating. I am sure most of us see some of our own lives described. It also touches on sexual deviance as a result of lack of love or avoiding love, plus the impact of both modern society and religion on our capacity to love. I'd particularly credit the author on the chapter on religious love which covers so much ground in such a short space without becoming overly technical.This definitely isn't a quick fix self help book on how to love better - but as a deep, meaningful and comprehensive journey into what love actually is, a superb read.

Classic inspiring book indeed - very engaging,very in-depth study of the various type of LOVE ('Brotherly Love; Motherly Love; Erotic Love; Self Love; Love of God).My favourite chapter is : Love and its Disintegration in Contemporary Western Society - we are all aware of it but Fromm writes with such clarity and eloquence.Love is 'teamwork' (care, responsibility, respect etc.) and an ART -we need to develop and practice in order to find true contentment.I am under the spell of Erich Fromm and just purchased his book on : The Art of Being. His philosophy is more 'down -to- earth' compared to Carl Rogers (- but this is a personal opinion and I know I am a minority by making statement like this ...)

If you are in a turmoil with yourself read this - my friend recommended it to me - I feel like Fromme is in my room - it resonates so well. Never to late to change your life path

Great 3/4 of the book, then hits this "religion" section which does not seem coherent with the rest of the book, made the remaining sections of the book difficult to read. Could just skip the chapter on religion and read the rest, rest of it is well written and does have insights on self love