Alain de Botton reveals what makes a relationship last in The Course of Love

We all have our ideas of what love is supposed to be like, but Alain de Botton is here to set the record straight on our romantic views on romance.

"Love is something that we need to learn."

The author's new novel The Course of Love explores the reality of long term relationships and what's required to keep them going.

While there is the this idea that love or chemistry is something we feel instinctually, de Botton argues that those impulses can lead us astray. In fact, de Botton credits things such as practicality, typically seen as a relationship killer, as the glue that keeps marriages and partnerships going for the long haul.

In his novel, the focus is not the blissful love we see in movies, but a realistic portrayal of what happy ever after really means.

"Many of our ideas of what love is comes from stories ... these are extremely powerful shapers of our attitudes towards love, and I think that, in some ways, often we've got the wrong story," de Botton tells Shad. "[These stories] that make us perturbed, paranoid, worried about many of the problems that we end up having in relationships."    

Do you believe there's such a thing as true love, or do our romantic ideas about love get in the way of successful relationships? Let us know in the comments, by email, on Facebook or on Twitter.

WEB EXTRA | Read de Botton's New York Times article about love, which is one of the most publication's most read pieces in recent years.