Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

#1 New York Times Bestseller • More than 10 million Copies Sold

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*ck is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

Have you ever had a hard time in life or feel stuck on something then the most perfect book shows up in your hands?

This book came to me after I literally had no more fucks to give. I used to be “good” but things happened and I ran out of fucks and broke off some toxic family members and I felt freer than I had in my whole life.

I was prepared for a severe backlash, but what I WAS not prepared for was how my life would be better once I did not care who looked at me or not. Appalachian culture regarding family members is that you must respect and all y the hell away of that bullcrap. I was like I had been living a big northern Liberal city for 20 years and decided that I was going to act like an educated lib rail than to know my place. I do not mean to sound mean, but I am the one with degrees so they can just stay the hell a way.

I went to the library and saw this book and I took it home to see what the author meant by not giving a f***k.

If you are among the people who do not have the time to read yet another book relating to self-development, I will sum it up for you. It is to do what you can, then release the outcome. There is no beating yourself up or anything like that. No perfection allowed. Perfection does not exist, and you will just end up worse than you were before. Trust me, I gave been there more than once. It has NEVER turned out well.

While this book is good and well written, it ultimately was written for a person without and chronic illnesses or other disabilities. I am not in that group at all. I can remember back when i first encountered Getting things done from a mentor and I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Now all that seems to be lifetimes a go. Now I must manage Rheumatoid Arthritis and mental illness. My life differs from what it was when I graduated from college.

25-year-old Hillary would have gobbled up this book, but the Hillary today is like to hell with all that crap…I do not have enough spoons to deal with this.

Then the realization hit me. That statement is exactly what The Subtle Art of Not Giving a fuck is all about. After all, and I speak of experience, is that the moment you prioritize others’ option of you, you have already lost that battle. Then your creativity will stop flowing and you will be stuck on a downhill slide, and you will face a creativity block and will sit staring at an empty screen. That was my experience, but slowly my brain is coming back to life. And I can honestly say that this time around, I truly do not give a fuck about others’ perception of me. With that said maybe I did find this book useful.