The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Genre: Non-Fiction

This is Manson’s take on the good old fashioned self-help book, but in an honest, no holds-barred sort of a way. Manson, a long-time blogger, world traveler and writer says, “This book will help you think a little bit more clearly about what you’re choosing to find important in life and what you’re choosing to find unimportant. I believe that today we are facing a psychological epidemic, one in which people no longer realize it’s OK for things to suck sometimes…” With chapter titles like “You Are Not Special” and “Failure is the Way Forward” this book deals lessons in the importance of honest conversations and being real. What Manson is really saying is that we should give a fuck, but we should give a fuck about the important things in life, like human connections, love and friendships. The rest? It just doesn't matter.

Don’t you love books? I particularly love when books come into my life just at the right time. I have the new pleasure of working in a high school library. I enjoy the librarian I work with, the students and the actual space. It’s a pleasure. I’m new to high schoolers (I’ve worked primarily with elementary school students previously in a variety of settings), so I’ve been doing what I always do in a new situation, I observe. I observe how the students behave, how the adults around them behave, the dynamics and the interactions. This is what I found: The staff at this school work so hard to help these students achieve high academic standards (and they do) and, recognizing that those are exhausting goals, wants to support them through this effort, and, therefore, bends over backwards to help them feel welcomed and comfortable. Even more so, wants them to feel understood. So it feels like there's a lot of talking things through and trying to connect with the students. I really admires this effort. I wish someone understood me and my angst when I was in high school.

This book was another good reminder to me that language matters. Sometimes you do need an explanation, but sometimes it's important to just say and hear things as they are. "You messed up". Period. "You did good". Period. Manson says that we essentially try to "coddle" this new generation and by doing so, we are raising a generation of people unable to deal with failure. Failing is not a bad thing, as it's only when we fail that we learn to pick up and keep going.

While I don’t agree with everything Manson says here, I find his common sense, no-word-mincing approach really refreshing. This was an enjoyable, well-written read.