The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Mark Manson

Sep 2016 · HarperAudio · Narrated by Roger Wayne

About this audiobook

#1 New York Times Bestseller • More than 10 million Copies Sold

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be ""positive"" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. ""F**k positivity,"" Mark Manson says. ""Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it."" In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—""not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault."" Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.

There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

Ratings and reviews

Dont waste your money... This book is all examples of dont sweat the small stuff this point could probably be made in 10 pages or 10 minutes ....but we get hours of dumb filler and lame story telling What I take from this is a pathetic overuse of cursing (I am a Construction worker who has a hard time speaking a sentence without cursing....I am no snowflake) but there is too many examples of unnessicary cursing that ruins a interesting book or audiobook Actually I just saw there is a summary about this novel available..... go get that one and enjoy the hours of your life that you could have thrown away by not listening to this garbage

I bought this book because I was intrigued by the hype. I was expecting it's going to be a good read but when I read it, the contents are repetitive and there's so much cursing. I curse too, don't get me wrong, but the cursing words in this book are overused, they are obviously fillers. Remove the redundant chapters and the filler cursing words and you could probably reduce the pages to 1/4. Not a good buy

I read this book at a young age at a point in my life where I needed guidance. And although though there are many one liners and simplistic ideas, it was a simple and easy to understand guide, definitely not the end-all be-all for self-help and I would encourage anybody who was seeking more to dive deeper into their own Journey. this is a wonderful place to start.

About the author

Mark Manson is the three-time #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, as well as other titles. His books have sold over 20 million total copies, been translated into more than 65 languages, and reached number one in more than a dozen countries. He's appeared in New York Magazine, Men's Health, and The Times of London among others. A feature film about his life and ideas was released worldwide by Universal Pictures in 2023.