Ichiro Kishimi

I hate to be negative, especially since the source material for this book is so rich in wisdom, but this is not a great book.

If you want to know about Adler and his theories, go read Adler. You’ll get closer to the truth, faster.

The “dialectic” style that this book attempts makes it harder to understand the material, and frankly treats the reader like a child. The approach fails in its goal to examine the argument from different perspectives, instead presenting the reader with irritating straw man arguments from start to finish.

The core of this book is a goldmine. Adler’s work is fascinating. I mean, take it all with a grain of salt since Adler’s been dead for a long while and the field has moved on. The approach that this book takes seems to work for a lot of people. Personally, the poor attempt at a dialectic style made it harder for me to understand and enjoy this book.… (més)

Focuses on Adlerian psychology, which has a lot of similarity to Greek Philosophy. Discusses happiness, fulfillment, self-actualization, purpose, interpersonal relationships and contributions. You’ll learn:
• What is Adlerian psychology and how it differs from other branches of psychology;
• The mindsets and behaviors to become self-reliant as an individual, and to live in harmony with society;
• Why your past doesn’t dictate your future, how you can gain freedom through personal responsibility, achieve real happiness through active contribution to your community, and give meaning to life.

Book summary at: https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-the-courage-to-be-disliked/… (més)

I couldn't finish it.   Bless me, i tried to, i really did, but i really couldn't take any more of this tedious mediocrity.

I had to keep on putting it down and going off and reading other things, and each time i came back i came back with good intentions, but each time i just put it down and went and read something else. Eventually, after 4 months of this, i got to 80% read and i just had to give up: it really wasn't doing my happiness any good whatsoever.

To sum it up: there's someone who claims to be a philosopher who is having a discussion with a young man, but the young man is asking all the wrong questions and failing miserably to point out the flaws in the supposed philosopher's babble: the ridiculousness of this conversation just makes one feel like banging ones head against the wall.

Seriously people, you could just keep picking random books off library bookshelves for the rest of your life and not read anything as tedious and pointless as this book.

As such, this book has received my website's great honour of being placed on "The Bookshelf of Infamy", i've also deleted it from my Kindle and Amazon account: yes, it really is that bad.

I certainly won't be bothering to read the sequel.… (més)