I loved Mark’s original hit book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. I read again it recently and it still held up, even though I originally read it when I was in a bad place in life and needed some inspiration. I read this newer book the second it came out, but I just didn’t enjoy it, so I wanted to read it again. At that time, I had been reading a ton of self-help books and just figured I didn’t like it because I was bored with the genre. But after reading it again, I just don’t think it’s a good book.

I think the main reason that this book isn’t that great is that its purpose isn’t clear. In the previous book, Mark lays out this counterintuitive idea and then makes excellent arguments for this way of living while blending it with philosophy and psychology. This book really felt like he just wanted to catch the momentum of the success from the previous book and just threw something together.

Aside from the lack of coherence with the book’s intention, it feels like he just threw a bunch of the same overused self-help stuff you can find anywhere else. It lacked a lot of originality that the previous book definitely had. In addition to the overused stories, studies, and tropes, he seems to have strange interpretations from the studies and philosophers that he references.

Anyway, I read this book twice and still didn’t like it. I’m sure it connects with some people, but he set a high bar for himself with the previous book, and this one didn’t come nearly as close.