Just finished listening to The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi.

The book is in the form of a dialogue between a philosopher and a youth. It discusses Adlerian philosophy.

The book seems to be written from a Japanese perspective. It talks about “shut-ins”, NEET, and other terms for young people who prefer to isolate themselves. I had never heard of these terms; after some research, I learned that it is a huge problem in Asian countries.

Another interesting thing was that the “youth” in the book had a bad relationship with his father, and it seemed he was greatly troubled by it. I understood this part, as I grew up in a culture where we also treat parents like gods. But I know many people who grew up in the West, and they are totally okay with not having a good relationship with their parents.

It felt like a lot of the wisdom in the book is common sense, at least in the Western cultural context. So I am a little surprised to see how this book is so popular here. I do want to re-read it; perhaps I am missing something.

Overall, my rating is 3/5 for now.