The Subtle Art of Telling Young Men What to Do
Mark Manson on his new book about hope, Jordan Peterson, and the promise of an A.I. takeover
A decade ago, at age 25, Mark Manson launched a blog hoping to drive traffic to the dating-advice business he had at the time. Today, as the author of the massively bestselling The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life (2016) — in which he noted that thoughtless optimism is harmful and that hardship provides meaning — he has become one of the best-known self-help gurus in America, especially for young men.
Manson’s website is replete with his speaking tour dates (tickets for his upcoming New York talk are going for up to $160), self-help videos, and personal development courses (“overcome anxiety” or “build a better life”), which are available by paid monthly or annual membership. His advice often repackages the philosophies of Nietzsche, Kant, and others, while claiming to subvert the ways the self-help genre typically conceptualizes ambition and goals. Manson’s new book, Everything Is F*cked: A Book about Hope, is about rethinking hope and aspiration, and the necessity of making changes to one’s self before trying to change society.
Manson was on vacation in the Bahamas when we spoke over the telephone ahead of the…
