The Courage to Be Disliked

This book would have been more interesting had I read it 10 years ago, but at this point I already agree with most of the insights discussed in the book. Although the book benefits from being presented alongside a devil's advocate point of view, I still felt that at times it did not go far enough in testing the limits of Adlerian psychology.

I also disagree with two major claims in the book:

First, it rejects a deterministic view of the world in favor of the notion that free will exists. However, I believe that the modern evidence suggests a lack of free will in the sense that most people understand it. Having said that, I do agree that for practical purposes it is beneficial to believe that you are the agent of change for your own life. It will prevent you from getting stuck in a self-fulfilling prophecy by making excuses to avoid taking action (what the book calls “life lies”).

Second, the book argues the case that emotion is fabricated in service of one's preexisting goals. However, we now know from modern psychology and behavioral economics that emotional cognition happens first, then rational cognition. Nevertheless, it is still useful to interrogate one's own emotional reaction because it provides a crude warning signal that something you just experienced may indicate danger or unpleasantness. It's just that this is not always the case.