The Courage to Be Disliked

3.5* sigh, I guess I expected more. The messages in this book are overall useful, but not really that mind blowing or original especially when you've read one or two self help books before - things like “only you can help yourself improve” “don't take on responsibilities of others” “live in the moment” and “only you are truly responsible for your emotions.” There's some good advice that's well phrased and the format of a dialogue is an interesting change from other help books.
However. Some of the concepts are a bit whack in the oversimplification. Such as “a kid will only harm themselves for their parents attention.” That's a really bad example to explain a concept that otherwise could be persuasive. Then there's the whole questionable punch they give you right at the beginning of “there's no such thing as trauma.” Like, I can agree with what they further say - your trauma does not define you or determine your future indefinitely. But to say that the influence is dismissable and that “we do not suffer from trauma but only make out of them whatever suits our purposes” is a bit of a harsh stretch. I'm not one bit surprised that people are giving this book 1* ratings and saying it's just victim blaming bs because if I were at the beginning of my recovery and read this, I would feel the same way. So don't read this as your first self help book.
Tldr - some good points but there are books out there that sell them better.