The Courage to be Disliked book review

Kyla Denanyoh
3 days ago
3 min read

So even if you are strong, tough, and courageous, you want to be liked by a few people, even if just by yourself. Keep watching to find out how it is being courageous.

Today, I'm discussing the book, The Courage to be Disliked. I saw this book and was like, "That sounds interesting to me." Let's pick it up. There are two authors, Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. I was not expecting it to be non-fiction because it was an exceptional title for a fiction book. The theme of the book is self-improvement and self-development. So, the book is based on a philosopher's writings.

The authors took the philosopher's writings and turned them into a question-and-answer story.

So, the philosopher would say, you need to do this, you need to care less about that. And then the student would ask, but how can I care less about that? That's really impractical for you to say that. And then the philosopher would explain some more. So, the story's layout gave you that back-and-forth. The questions that the student was asking were questions that you would have asked.

Like, I get it, philosopher. How can I apply that to my life? And that aspect of the book I really, really enjoyed. And an important quote in the book was this. So life's not a competition. That's right. It's enough just to keep moving forward without competing with anyone. And of course, there's no need to compare yourself to other people. So why is that quote important to me? That quote really matters because it's impossible not to compare yourself. And I say that because the big thing now that you hear all the time is, I only compare myself to myself. I'm only competing with the person I was yesterday. Well, that's still comparing. It is enough just to keep moving forward. That's it. And that really resonated with me because I like to plan.

I like to think ahead.
I like to do better.
I like to progress.
Even if I'm just getting 1% better every day, I want to do it.

And I would never call myself a competitive person (Scrabble/board games aren’t included, right?). So while I would not call myself a competitive person, I do like to progress. I;ve been working from home lately. My husband's career is completely a remote job. We're raising a kindergartener. We're in a new marriage. And it's enough. It's enough just to be moving forward. And that feels so good. And it's such a weight off my shoulders.

It's such a weight off my shoulders to know that I can just move forward.

What you're doing is valuable. What you're doing is important. Just move forward. So I really like that piece. if you missed the video I was laid off in December 2021, it mae me realize that I needed to focus on self-development. Before 2021, I didn’t read a lot of self-improvement or non-fiction books, but now they are my favorite topics.

I'm really enjoying the introspection that comes from reading nonfiction books or self-development books. And this book was really relevant to me. And I'm happy that I'm starting to get into these types of books because they're important. The conversation the student had with the philosopher, back and forth, made a lot of sense. And it really helped me to personalize the philosopher's tales.

Would I reread this book? Yes, I would reread this book. I listened to it on audiobook and I would definitely purchase the book and read it. You know, get the hardback version and scribble things in the margins. I know that i would get a different take on the book so yes i would reread it so thank you for following along with me today we were talking about the courage to be disliked excellent philosophy self-development book if you're looking for a book that will make you think a little bit outside the box, make you question some of the things that you do and the motives for a lot of the things that you do, consider picking up this book.