THE SHADY PAST AND BRIGHT FUTURE OF SELF-HELP’S NEW SUPERSTAR
THERE ARE a lot of reasons to listen to Mark Manson. He has the unvarnished wisdom of a bartender in a fishing town, for one thing. With his 2016 mega bestseller, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Manson set out to contradict everything other self-help books were saying: “If other self-help books say you’re special, I’m going to write a chapter called ‘You’re Not Special’. If other self-help books tell you to believe in yourself, I’m going to tell you not to believe in yourself. If other self-help books tell you, ‘Just say yes’, I’m going to write a chapter that says, ‘Just say no’. ”
The Subtle Art has sold more than 6 million copies, and Manson’s recent follow-up, Everything Is F*cked, was on the bestseller list for 13 weeks. His blog, MarkManson.net, boasts more than a million monthly readers, with half a million paid subscribers.
Still, Manson has an aura of approachability. It could be his soft, friendly-looking features, or the way he seems comfortable in every chair, even when he’s onstage. It could be the swearing. At first, I think the fucks sound a little forced, in the context of his latest books’ titles – like a kid who swears because he knows it’s going to get a rise out of his mum. But the curse words become more frequent when Manson is talking passionately about something and less frequent when he’s considering every word. He’s just a swearer.
In his books, Manson, 35, flays himself: in particular, draws heavily on his personal highs and lows. Some moments are funny, and some are unexpectedly gutting, as when he describes his friend Josh’s drowning when Manson was a teenager. “Josh’s death marks the clearest before/after point I can identify in my life. Pre-tragedy, I was inhibited, unambitious, forever
