12 [The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck] by Mark Manson

It is always hard to write a book review especially when you try to write one or two months after you have finished reading the book. This is exactly what happens on me right now. However, I am aware that if I never write this book review, very likely, I am not going to write the book review of every book that I read after this. So, I would like to “force” myself to at least write something to summarize some of the good points that I learned from reading a book and possibly the ways of how I can apply what I learnt in my daily life.

I remember the author discuss something about job changing in this book and he mentions that changing job is like moving from one shitty place to another shitty place, no matter when one is going, there is always hundreds tones of trouble and shit waiting ahead and therefore, the key is not to find something that suits you perfectly but find the things that you enjoy dealing with. Office politics, unscrupulous bosses, manipulative colleagues, long working hours and unreasonable pay are always there and would likely to accompany you from one job to another job, just like the haunting ghosts but of importance is the thing that you want to do and enjoy dealing with. This is quite true; I realized that it is extremely difficult to find a job that match a person’s personalities and characteristics. And at the same time, satisfy all his conditions on the welfare, working hours, stress level, remuneration, work-life balance etc. The easier way should be changing yourself to get the best job available in the market.

The author also share a few things on the purpose of life , saying that finding something important and meaningful in one’s life is perhaps the most productive use of one’s time and energy. I cannot agree more with what he says as I really think that it is a waste of time if I cannot find something meaningful that I want to do in my life. The things may be different depending on the stages of life but it is good to have something meaningful in which you can pour all your extra energy and time into. Because if there is nothing one wants to do in life, very likely the energy and time will be channeled to some meaningless and frivolous causes. One artist says when a person has no problems, the mind automatically finds a way to invent some. In our modern society, it is not difficult to find that some of the so-called life-threatening problems faced by the educated and pampered middle-class are really just side effects of not having anything more important to worry about.

This book uses simple and casual language that we can hear every day in daily conversation with others. The usage of words like “shit” and “F*ck” is numerous as compared to any book that I have read but these words help me to understand and feel the emotion and excitement of the author when he was trying to write this book. Overall, it is a book that deserves a read and it deserve to be placed in the top ten ranking of the most popular books in NYT.

 

(548 Words)