Saturday, 15 September 2018

Book Review - 12: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson


This was one of those books which created curiosity in me. Alas, I was left disappointed.

For anybody who has read a lot of self help books, this book is not going to make any difference. It is one of those books which can be termed as a primer for those who have not been initiated into self help genre.

The book is roughly divided into two parts. The first tries to establish the author’s ideas and the second grows further on this establishment. 

The book says that failure is normal and asks us to not corrupt it with positivity. The author argues that we are all comforting ourselves in an attempt to cover up failures. Its crux is about not alleviating the problems but trying to understand and sort them. The book explains that the most significant thing which occupies anybody’s thoughts is unhappiness. And we find solace in denial and victim mentality ending up asking for entitlement. The author says that we are all living in a delusion that we are special and to come out of it we need to redefine the metrics against which we measure life.

This book is devoid of any mysticism, spiritualism and saintly stories. It takes you through the process of breaking your mental picture of things and approaches the cube from a different side. As a matter of fact, it explains what all other books have been advocating in the positive manner, through a negative approach; a kind of anti therapy. Having read this much, it also explains how best these negative approach can be tackled and a normal life can be lead without hassles. A welcome offer, when we consider most of us being normal people. (I find a hint of the book’s influence in this line.)

For me this book did not connect but for the last chapter. I believe that one of the main reasons the book owes to for its success is the language which comes as interesting and admonishing in an attempt to drive home the point. At some instances, the language used gives you the feeling of given a tight slap.

Overall, it was an okay read for me and would recommend to those who have just ventured into the self help genre. Certainly a book to be chewed but whether it is digestible depends upon each one’s gut.

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