The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

"The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" by Mark Manson starts out with a plethora of expletives. Understandably, he has the F-word in the title and needs to fulfill his marketing promise. The book is relatively short and begins with some Stoic wisdom that anyone who has read "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius or "The Enchiridion" might already be familiar with. While not necessarily bad, it can be a good entry point into the topic for someone who finds the previously mentioned books dull.

The second part of the book focuses on values and how pursuing the wrong ones can lead to suffering. I found the anecdote about the musician who later formed Megadeth most insightful: after being thrown out of his band, he vowed to become better than his former colleagues and founded Megadeth. Although he became incredibly popular, he never achieved his goal since he was thrown out of Metallica, leading to a sense of bitterness and unfulfillment.

In the last section, there is a form of redemption arc. Mark Manson, known within the manosphere, has written another book called "Models," in which he shares his personal pickup strategies. Having settled down, he now attempts to reconcile his former lifestyle with his new one. The book still contains several red pill concepts but avoids using terms like frame and alpha, instead explaining the concepts differently.

So, does Manson actually deliver? Yes, indeed. The book offers valuable insights, and if you are unfamiliar with the concept of Stoicism, or as he refers to it, "not giving a f*ck," then it serves as an excellent entry point. For those familiar with the concept, it drives the point home using modern vocabulary.

This is a great book. I listen to most books and find doing so with non-fiction a bit of a challenge because I'm always pausing to take some sort of note. This book was no exception and I created quite a few notes in Google Keep. The dogs kept looking at me like, "Umm, what's the hold up. Get to steppin' old man."

The theory behind this book is that we've grown as a society to give too many fucks about too many things, particularly about things that aren't important. I loved the concepts in chapter 2 of "disappointment panda" and the idea that we might best become happy when we stop focusing on pleasure and happiness but on our values, which would lead to the consideration that we need to choose values based on the level of pain/struggle we are willing to endure for them, not the happiness they bring.