The worst HR book of 2017 is “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” by Mark Manson. The more time I spend reflecting on this book, the more I hate it.
Great Books Have Remarkable Titles
Let’s start with the title, which isn’t fantastic. I know publishers are picky. Likewise, booksellers are prudish. But if you include the F word in your title and don’t spell it, don’t use it.
You might want me to give this guy a break. He’s trying to move merchandise, Laurie. He doesn’t make the rules, right?
Too fucking bad. I want to read books from writers who are brave. If you’re not courageous enough to use a word, don’t put it on the cover of your book.
You Need a Story, Bro
The heart of this book is built around several important ideas that look like this: The nature of consciousness requires us to suffer. The more you resist, the more you suffer. Get out of your head. Make conscious decisions about how and when you will suffer. Go into the real world and be of service to somebody and stop thinking about your suffering.
That’s not Mark Manson, that’s Buddha. I’m not saying the author is ripping off Buddhist tenets, but this book could use a better editor and more attributions.
As we dive into the book, Manson attaches his autobiography to Buddhist principles without reflecting on how wealth, race and privilege played a role in his life. I wish the author could acknowledge that the road to enlightenment is shorter when you have food, mental health counselors and individuals who love you.
What bothers me the most is that Manson shows zero compassion for readers who have endured trauma and suffer from anxiety and depression. His message is very Trumpesque and abrasive: Your life isn’t hard as you think, so get off the internet and stop complaining.
The days of some dude telling me how I feel are over. I don’t need my life experiences validated by some guy who was born on third base but thinks he hit a triple.
It’s the Worst HR Book of the Year
Is Mark Manson a bad guy? No, of course not. Is this book toxic? No, not at all. Was “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” the worst HR book of 2017? Yes. But jump on the bandwagon and read this book if you like privileged people lecturing you on how to improve your life.
Dealing with biologically caused anxiety and depression is too broad a scope for a philosophical book of this nature.
This book basically attempts to open the reader’s eyes to a different perspective, or remind one of a lost perspective (as in my case). I think the most compelling argument he makes is that although life events can be at blame for our woes, how we interpret those events is our responsibility. Stop hiding behind blame and finger-pointing and own your role in life.
I’ve suffered from anxiety my whole adult life, and with it came depression. I’m self-aware and even rebuilt myself in my early twenties to overcome some life schemas I had based on my upbringing. 15 years ago I was subjected to years of relationship abuse. I got out but didn’t address the damage done and turned into a ‘victim’. A decade later I got married, again to someone who abused me due to her life schemas. We eventually got married and I eventually tried to kill myself.
That was my wake-up call to action. That was when I began to pro-actively learn all I could about abuse, trauma, anxiety, etc. It’s too big a topic for this kind of focused material. BUT it’s is 100% valid in the pieces of growth it attempts to focus upon. The three things that helped me most ‘rebuild’ myself was learning to live in “the now” (via Tolle’s rehashing of buddhist philosophy), meditation, and the concept of ‘owning my role’. I read “The Subtle Art” after learning to ‘own’ my mistakes, but had I read it 10 years earlier, I may have extricated myself from my victim mindset.
My anxiety and depression have been caused by two things, really. Diet (MSG gives me anxiety), and my perspective of helpless victimhood. Via living in the now, owning my role and meditation (which assist both of the other things greatly), I’ve virtually eradicated anxiety and depression from my life. I’ve re-found the free-spirit I used to be prior to the abuse, but a more aware one.
The book isn’t geared toward solving specific problems like anxiety and depression. It’s aimed to enlighten and if it helps with clinical issues along the way, great. But the enlightenment could benefit anyone, even those who are ‘normal’.