The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Audiobook

Very good book changing your perspective on what you allow yourself to care about, what you allow take up your time and energy. Very good book that has helped reduce my anxiety by shifting my focus or just not caring at all when things don't go as I planned. Highly recommend.

Will this book change your life? No, only you can do that. Manson's self-help book, a mash-up of Stoicism and Buddhism with a sprinkling of pop-psychology thrown in for good measure, is a good read, not everyone's cup of tea it seems, but you take from it what you will.

It's a bit uneven in places and his self-effacing tone, bordering on smugness, can grate. But there are good ideas in here. Especially the section on entitlement and how it has damaged society. There are nuggets of wisdom to take away and mull over, and some good points to put into practice. As he says, none of this advice is easy, so don't expect a universal panacea that will cure all your ills and make you a better person. You have to put in the work. Decide what to give a fuck about.

Manson walks the walk and actively helps people to improve their lives, you only have to look at his Youtube channel or read his blog to see that. So those who poo-poo his intentions maybe need to take a look at themselves before criticising someone who genuinely wants to help people.

So, its not the self-help book to end all self-help books, but it is a worthwhile read and gives you some real food for thought.

For the majority I listened to the audiobook version of it. It definitely took me a while to get into it, the beginning was really confusing and cringy with all the unnecessary swearing.

Ideas presented are solid, but it's essentially just repacked stoicism, told in a ‘trendy' way.
Good introduction for someone new into it, but I recommend going straight to the source as soon as possible (Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca), starting with Ryan Holiday as a more obvious introduction to ideas of stoicism.
Still a fun listen, although I barely remember anything from it, the first half draws a total blank for me.

Manson is good and has a cool blog.