The Way of the Superior Man

UPDATED REVIEW, 2023.

This book is fucking mind poison. On my second read through, I couldn't tell if it was good advice presented poorly, or bad advice presented well. Turns out its the latter. Lots of bad advice caged in new-age wisdom, that makes claims without ever being unfalsifiable. Stuff like, “do X and she will love it. And if she doesn't, it's because you didn't do X with enough love.”

Stay clear of this one. It might be OK if you're a single man, but in a happy, loving relationship, it can only bring pain and suffering.

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ORIGINAL REVIEW, 2018. Originally 4 stars.

This is a hard book to review. It's got some fantastic advice in it, and also has a lot of shit. Some of the great stuff is about making moves in the world even if you're not super sure where you're going, being confident in your relationships and striving to be true to your purpose above all else.

And then it gets to the “women” portion. The Way of the Superior Man comes off as a book written by a guy who has never once been in a healthy relationship; it's full of advice like “if you come too quickly, your woman won't respect you and will attempt to undermine you at every turn” and “if she doesn't sound happy about your accomplishments, it's because she's testing you to see if you give a shit what she thinks.” This is some dark red pill shit dressed up in language about love and “her positive feminine energy.” Nah, Deida, just stop dating terrible humans and things will be alright.

Rating this a 4/5 because of it's good advice for taking care of yourself; skim the stuff about women.