The school of life, as was, used to be interchangeable with the school of hard knocks. It wasn't something you signed up for; it was something you went through whether you wanted to or not, with the emphasis, usually, on the not. Disastrous love affair? Congratulations, you've been through the school of life. Stuck in Ulan Bator in only your knickers, your guide having long deserted you? Another lesson for you there.

Now, however, you don't have to have your heart broken or journey to the ends of the Earth to attend. You can simply - of course - go online, and discover an organisation that's calling itself “a new cultural enterprise based in Central London offering intelligent instruction on how to lead a fulfilled life”. Do you wander, lost, in bookstores, wondering vainly how to compile a reading list? Do you imagine there's a vivid intellectual scene out there in which you could participate if only you knew how? If so, the School of Life is for you. One of its leading lights is Alain de Botton, a past master at making the intimidating accessible, author of bestsellers such as How Proust Can Change Your Life and The Consolations of Philosophy (and, it should be said, a sometime contributor to these pages). Other lights include Geoff Dyer, Susan Elderkin, Julian Baggini and Martin Parr - so there should be no shortage of weighty yet digestible advice on several fronts.

When I heard about the school, I must confess an instinct to be cynical. I sighed, just a little, when I read that “bibliotherapy” was to be offered; more simply, they'll help you to find what you really want to read. Fair enough, in part, I thought, when the bigger bookstores seem the size of aircraft hangars; and yet what happened to the friendly chat with the charming shop assistant who'd help you to find the tome you'd love?

Bibliotherapy, pah! I thought. And then I realised - much as I'm a supporter of bookshops - that the next bit of this mental image involved brown paper and string (the wrapping of the book therein, you see) and I wondered if I wasn't being a little old-fashioned. It is overwhelming out there - and anything that helps anyone to cut through the morass has got to be fine by me. That's what we in Books try to do every week, after all. School of Life? Bring it on. It's better than getting lost in your pants in a foreign clime.

www.theschooloflife.com

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

• Audio Books

Times Recommends

• Superfreakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
• The Times picks the 50 best paperbacks of 2009
• Vincent van Gogh’s letters show the soul of the artist