''The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life'' is a 2016
nonfiction self-help book by American blogger and author
Mark Manson
Mark Manson (born March 9, 1984) is an American self-help author and blogger. As of 2022 he has authored or co-authored four books, three of which, ''The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck'', '' Everything Is Fucked: A Book About Hope'', and ''Wi ...
.
The book covers Manson's belief that life's struggles give it meaning and argues that typical
self-help book
A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from '' Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self- ...
s offer meaningless positivity which is neither practical nor helpful, thus improperly approaching the problems many individuals face. It was a ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it f ...
'' bestseller.
Publication history
''The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck'' was published under the imprint of
HarperOne
HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 em ...
, a division of
HarperCollins Publishers, and was released on September 13, 2016.
As of May 2019, over 8 million copies of the book had been sold.
Contents
The book is a reaction to the
self-help industry and what Manson saw as a culture of mindless positivity that is not practical or helpful for most people.
Manson uses many of his own personal experiences to illustrate how life's struggles often give it more meaning, which, he argues, is a better approach than constantly trying to be happy.
Manson's approach and writing style have been categorized by some as contrarian to the general self-help industry, using blunt honesty and
profanity
Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...
to illustrate his ideas.
The book has nine chapters. The first chapter, ''Don't Try'', is named after the philosophy of
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
, who served as a major inspiration for the whole book.
The chapters have the following titles:
1. Don't Try.
2. Happiness is a problem.
3. You are not special.
4. The value of suffering.
5. You are always choosing.
6. You are wrong about everything (But so am I).
7. Failure is the way forward.
8. The importance of saying no.
9. And then you die.
Summary
''The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck'' argues that individuals should seek to find meaning through what they find to be important and only engage in values that they can control. Values (such as popularity) that are not under a person's control, are, according to the book, 'bad values'. Furthermore, individuals should strive to replace these uncontrollable values with things they have the capability to change, such as punctuality, honesty, or kindness. Manson further cautions against claiming certainty about knowledge that is out of one's grasp, especially in the case of attempting to leave a legacy. Meaning can be found, Manson claims, when one seeks to create joy in the moment for one's self and those around as opposed to being concerned with building a body of work as a legacy.
Reception
''The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck'' first appeared on the
New York Times Bestseller List
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
at #6 for the category of How-to and Miscellaneous for the week of October 2, 2016.
It reached #1 for the first time on July 16, 2017.
As of the end of May 2020, the book has spent 179 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.
The book also appeared on the Washington Post Bestseller List at #9 in the Non-fiction/General category for the week of September 25, 2016,
and on the Toronto Star List at #1 in the Self-Improvement category on September 23, 2016.
In 2017, it was the best-selling
nonfiction book from
Barnes & Noble,
the #4 best-selling book on all of
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...
,
and the #9 best-selling book in Canada.
''
Kirkus Reviews'' said that the book was "
good yardstick by which self-improvement books should be measured."
The book was noted as a prominent instance of an industry wide trend of swear words in book titles during the 2010s.
Critics have been quick to note that the apparent lack of sophistication in language and style of the book is a clever disguise for more serious value-related content of the book.
References
External links
Mark Manson – Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, The
Self-help books
2016 non-fiction books
English-language books
HarperOne books