New York Times Bestseller
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 modern 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. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.
There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.
| The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was a random find at BEA (I think it was handed to me in passing). So I gave it a whirl. Ehhhh...it was a perfectly fine self-improvement/personal growth book about learning how to not give a fuck about stuff that gets you nowhere (loser friends, jobs you hate, dead-end relationships, etc) and learning to give a fuck about the stuff that does (hard work, meaningful relationships, etc). This is all well and good...except for the unfortunate fact that I didn't find it terribly interesting and very little of his ideas seemed to stick in my head. I'm not a follower of Manson's blog, so I really had no expectations going in. Perhaps this book would work better for fans or blog followers. I prefer Sarah Knight's The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don't Have with People You Don't Like Doing Things You Don't Want to Do which was much funnier and was far more memorable and useful given that it was a parody of a sort. Dear FTC: I was given a paper galley at BEA in May. |
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