Book Report: 'The Courage to be Disliked'

 

The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an eye-opening introduction to Adlerian Theory. The title is pure clickbait, but the content within is intriguing and engaging.

The main idea is to rid your life of unnecessary interpersonal entaglements that hold you back from pursuing your higher goals. Set up as a Platonic dialogue between a patient master and skeptical student, the speakers discuss contradictions, hangups, presuppositions and ingrained social and mental blocks that tend to lock people up.

There is a subtle, cult-like feel of preachiness that pops up fairly often, but that doesn't detract from the gems worth grasping onto. There is nothing in the book that overtly encourages you to be disliked, and it pretty much proclaims that happiness is fleeting and unattainable. However, it does advise you to look out for manipulation attempts, both from outside and within, and highly encourages you to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Above all, this is an extended version of the Serenity Prayer, which it cites within. By staying within yourself and not allowing outside forces you have no control over to trouble you, you can strive for peace, if not happiness.

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