The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Book Review

Mark Mason is a star blogger, internet entrepreneur and author of two books titled Models: Attract Women Through Honesty and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. The latter of which has become a recent New York Times bestseller. Mark quit his first day job two months in to start his own internet business. He has traveled to over 60 countries and speaks three languages. His journey so far, has led him from living on people’s couches to overcoming failures and he now runs a successful blog and is a tremendous entrepeneur

Overview and Thoughts about the Book
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life is a book about living the counter-intuitive approach to life. We are constantly bombarded with motivational speeches and inspiring stories of how people have overcome deep struggles to become successes. In the root of all of this is “being positive”. Manson suggests that some things are meant to be f*cked up and being positive actually works against “being positive“. He pulls from philosophers such as Alan Watts eluding to the “backwards law”. Watts writes, “When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink, you float.” In more layman terms, trying so hard to make everything right often causes things to go wrong.

Manson’s book is centered around accepting life’s challenges and learning better how to deal with the flaws and limits in our lives. Backed by academic research, Manson takes us through a series of powerful “ah ha moments” revealing the truth behind empowerment. The truth behind finding happiness and enjoying life involves embracing our fears, faults, and uncertainties in life. While all of this may seem obvious when brought up, we all know need that reminder to take a step back and look at life from an inverse approach.