I swear on everything holy that I tried so hard to like this book. Much like his previous book, Dave Rubin has this insane ability that I’ve never seen from any other author. This ability is to make a reader like me who dislikes him but wants to understand think, “Alright. He’s saying some good stuff. Maybe he’s not so bad,” and then within paragraphs say something ridiculous, an outright lie, or extremely polarizing. Sometimes, it’s all of the above.

I’ll start with the good. If you scrape away all of the garbage from this book, Dave has some great advice for people. The overarching topics of each chapter is solid, like knowing how social media manipulates us, why you should be skeptical of certain information, and the value of being an independent thinker. If I’m being extremely optimistic, I think/hope that some of his conservative readers will gain something from value from the self-help aspect of the book.

Now, onto the bad.

My primary issue with Dave Rubin is that he’s full of shit. I don’t know if writer Dave Rubin is the bullshitter or the YouTube Dave Rubin is the bullshitter. But, they aren’t the same people. In his books, he comes off far more rational and tolerant (I use the word tolerant very loosely) than he does on YouTube. Both versions do pander to the right, but writer Rubin is a bit more chill and doesn’t spread as much misinformation or omit as much information.

I binged this book in less than a day because of his ability to bait me in and think he’s going to impart some wisdom before saying something extremely silly. To give you an example, at one point he’s discussing the benefits of becoming self-sustaining by starting a garden with his husband and learning some survival skills. Well, that’s cool. I’ll never criticize someone for trying to go outside some more or learn some skills. But then he literally says that doomsday preppers aren’t paranoid, they just like to be prepared. And no, not the rational preppers. He’s referring to the ones who believe the apocalypse has been coming any day now for the last 30 years.

The book obviously panders to the right and talks a lot about the terrors of wokeism. I’m not sure if that’s necessarily worth criticizing anymore because it’s the norm. You’ll rarely find authors who aren’t academics who legitimately try to argue for and against both sides. Even though I don’t like it, it’d be a real “Rubin move” of me to act like it’s only the Right who does this. Throughout the book, he’ll regularly criticize the left and left-wing media while omitting as much information as possible about his side. And in case you’re wondering, yes, he does downplay the January 6th insurrection.

Lastly, just because I think it’s funny/sad, I think it’s important to mention how much name dropping he does in this book. Every few paragraphs (or less), he can’t help but name drop people he knows or has met like Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Larry King, and others to signal, “See! I’m popular!”

This is one of the longers reviews I’ve written. I think it’s because Dave Rubin is one of a kind, and that absolutely fascinates me. So, should you read this book? Hell yes. If nothing else, you’ll enjoy trying to understand wtf is going on in this guy’s head.

Oh, I almost forgot that at one point in the book he recommends the reader turn to disgraced lawyer and former mayor Rudy Giuliani as a source for inspiration and find your inner bravery.