The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*CK: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

This chapter includes five subchapters: “Architects of Our Own Beliefs,” “The Dangers of Pure Certainty,” “Manson’s Law of Avoidance,” “Kill Yourself,” and “How to Be a Little Less Certain of Yourself.” Manson opens by noting that what we consider conventional wisdom in modern times, such as the fact that California is part of the contiguous US and not an island, at one time wasn’t conventional at all. Manson highlights some of the ways that early beliefs in cartography, medicine, and other fields were later proven wrong. Some of the claims that Manson alludes to are wildly off the mark, but he uses them to further his point that everyone is wrong at some point and we should accept this as a fact of life. Learning from our mistakes is a habit that leads to growth—and in Manson’s view, we only inch toward getting things right in life. He doesn’t frame growth as a getting-it-right-or-getting-it-wrong binary; instead, he sees growth as getting it less wrong. In addition, Manson views the quest to be right about everything that happens in life as a potentially destructive pursuit.

Manson introduces another anecdote, this one a description of a study in behavioral psychology.