14 minSummaryRead it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a father treats his son as an experiment—and expects a genius?
Avito Carrascal believes science can plan a human life. In Miguel de Unamuno’s Love and Pedagogy, he sets out to arrange the mother, the home, and the lessons that will produce a great thinker. His wife, Marina, sees a child who needs care. Avito sees a project whose success depends on following the method.
Their son, Apolodoro, grows up inside this grand design, with the learned Don Fulgencio Entrambosmares helping shape his education. But when Clarita draws his feelings, the boy faces something his lessons cannot settle. This dark comedy asks what happens to love, fatherhood, and a child’s own life when theory claims to have every answer.
What you’ll discover
- A household turned laboratory Watch Avito bring his grand theories into the daily work of raising a child.
- A mother beyond the method Meet Marina, whose practical care treats her son as a person, not a test.
- The comedy of certainty Encounter Don Fulgencio, whose long words and strange theories promise more than they settle.
- Lessons that cannot teach love Follow Apolodoro toward feelings that expose the gaps in his carefully planned education.
- Progress under a sharp eye Explore Unamuno’s darkly funny challenge to grand claims about reason and human life.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy satire with a heart, odd and talkative characters, jokes about science and philosophy, and stories about families and first love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Avito plans to manufacture a genius
- Love overturns the planned marriage
- The home becomes an experiment
- Their son learns to hide
- A teacher must leave room
- The child answers with pity
- First love escapes his training
- Freedom needs an improvised line
- A theory meets a child
Who’s who
- Avito CarrascalA sociologist and father who believes a boy can be turned into a genius by science, and wants to prove it with his own son.
- Marina del ValleAvito's wife, a dreamy, devout woman who sleeps through the experiments and secretly protects her son with prayers and kisses.
- ApolodoroThe son raised as an experiment, who wants to be a poet and a lover and has to find who he is.
- Don Fulgencio EntrambosmaresThe eccentric philosopher who guides Avito with aphorisms, a skeleton and a scheme to prepare the boy for his improvised line.
- ClaritaDon Epifanio's daughter, Apolodoro's first love, who has to choose between him and a rival.
- FedericoA mocking young man with a red necktie who decides to win Clarita from Apolodoro.
- Hildebrando MenagutiA long-haired poet and self-styled priest of beauty who pushes Apolodoro toward art and drama.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook opens when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Love and Pedagogy in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Love and Pedagogy
by Miguel de Unamuno · 1902
Avito Carrascal plans to engineer a genius from his own son, and love keeps wrecking the experiment.
Medium level2–5 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeRenews every year · Cancel anytimeHow it works
- Read, large type too
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
“Genius is made, whatever the proverb may say.”
In short
What happens when a man tries to raise a genius the way a chemist runs an experiment? Avito Carrascal weighs his newborn son, measures his skull and feeds him by the clock.
Love and Pedagogy at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 25 min2 h 45 min fast, 4 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 49,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1902by Miguel de Unamuno
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A bachelor decides to manufacture a genius
The story opens in a boardinghouse, where Avito Carrascal lives on his investments and worships science. Mechanics governs his stride, chemistry his digestion, and geometry the cut of his suits. Over walnuts at dinner he shares his great plan with Sinforiano, a student who admires him.
His proof comes from bees. Feed an ordinary larva royal jelly and a strict regimen, and you get a queen. If bees can do this, why not people? Yet Carrascal cracks a walnut and finds it empty, and when the landlady says they are fresh, he answers that it cannot be. A mind in love with a system can go blind.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1902
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Unamuno, Miguel de. Love and Pedagogy. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/love-and-pedagogy.
Unamuno, M. de. (2026). Love and pedagogy. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/love-and-pedagogy (Original work published 1902)
Unamuno, Miguel de. Love and Pedagogy. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/love-and-pedagogy.
@book{unamuno2026love,
author = {Unamuno, Miguel de},
title = {Love and Pedagogy},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/love-and-pedagogy},
note = {First published 1902}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every eBookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Love and Pedagogy
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Love and Pedagogy about?
It tells of Avito Carrascal, a sociologist who marries to produce a genius and raises his son Apolodoro by strict scientific rules. Love, family feeling and the boy's own heart keep upsetting the plan.
Who is Don Fulgencio in Love and Pedagogy?
Don Fulgencio Entrambosmares is the eccentric philosopher who advises Avito. He writes aphorisms, keeps a skeleton in a top hat, hates common sense and is working on a vast book of combinations, the Ars magna combinatoria.
What do Form and Matter mean in the novel?
Avito calls himself Form, the thinking and shaping part, and calls his wife Marina Matter, the natural and instinctive part. The book plays with this idea and shows how the two keep changing places.
The author
Miguel de Unamuno
1864–1936 · Spanish philosopher, novelist and poet
Miguel de Unamuno was a Spanish philosopher, novelist, and essayist, a leading voice of the Generation of '98 and longtime rector of the University of Salamanca. Tragic Sense of Life, his meditation on faith, reason, and mortality, remains his most influential work.
“Genius is made, whatever the proverb may say.”
More by Miguel de Unamuno
See all their booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
