The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
I listened to this book on audio and it was read by the author, Mark Manson, himself. The fact that I was listening to him deliver his own words made his lines that much funnier and had me laughing out loud in my car throughout the book. I appreciated that as often times self-help books are a bit more factual in a this is right and this is wrong way, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was very different in its' delivery.
Some of Manson's points are great and explained in a funny way; as shown in the two quotes below:
“Ironically, this fixation on the positive—on what’s better, what’s superior—only serves to remind us over and over again of what we are not, of what we lack, of what we should have been but failed to be. After all, no truly happy person feels the need to stand in front of a mirror and recite that she’s happy. She just is."
“Everyone and their TV commercial wants you to believe that the key to a good life is a nicer job, or a more rugged car, or a prettier girlfriend, or a hot tub with an inflatable pool for the kids. The world is constantly telling you that the path to a better life is more, more, more—buy more, own more, make more, fuck more, be more. You are constantly bombarded with messages to give a fuck about everything, all the time. Give a fuck about a new TV. Give a fuck about having a better vacation than your coworkers. Give a fuck about buying that new lawn ornament. Give a fuck about having the right kind of selfie stick.”
Basically, Manson is telling us to not give a f*ck about the majority of things in our life, and focusing on only giving a f*ck about what is really important. And sometimes, in order to put certain things as a priority, we have to not give a f*ck about other things (what others think, how they react, what is deemed as "normal").
Overall, I enjoyed it and was happy to listen to the book that I've been seeing pop-up in a lot of places. However, I feel like I only got so much out of this book and at times I felt like Manson was just reiterating the same few points over and over again.
Synopsis: In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.
For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better.