{"id":733,"date":"2020-01-30T13:36:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T18:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/?p=733"},"modified":"2020-01-30T13:36:50","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T18:36:50","slug":"book-review-everything-is-fcked-a-book-about-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/21st-century-skills\/book-review-everything-is-fcked-a-book-about-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Everything is F*cked: A book about hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everything is f*cked. Really? That\u2019s some bold language to use to describe the world. \"\"<\/a>Sure, you might even agree that this sentiment sums up the the current state of affairs. However, this isn\u2019t a book about the current state of affairs, it\u2019s a book about YOU. No, I\u2019m not saying that you\u2019re not \u201cF*cked\u201d. No, it\u2019s about mindsets, about contextualizing the VUCA world we live in, and its about the role that algorithms play and will play in our lives. It\u2019s a book that acts more like a provocation.<\/p>\n

Here is what GoodReads says about the book. I\u2019ve tried to summarize this myself, but kept coming back to this \u2013 I think it most accurate:<\/p>\n

We live in an interesting time. Materially, everything is the best it\u2019s ever been\u2014we are freer, healthier and wealthier than any people in human history. Yet, somehow everything seems to be irreparably and horribly f*cked\u2014the planet is warming, governments are failing, economies are collapsing, and everyone is perpetually offended on Twitter. At this moment in history, when we have access to technology, education and communication our ancestors couldn\u2019t even dream of, so many of us come back to an overriding feeling of hopelessness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This book is a revelation in getting unstuck. It\u2019s not that \u201cEverything is F*cked\u201d, it\u2019s about what we do once we embrace knowing this.<\/p>\n

\n

You\u2019d be interested in reading this book if:
\n* You love psychology, and appreciate a psychology treatment of our recent and not-so-recent past
\n* You want to be able to embrace and, dare I say \u2018thrive\u2019, in this current world
\n* You are interested in algorithms<\/p>\n

Mark Manson<\/a> is a writer, entrepreneur and describes himself on his site as: \u201cI write about big ideas and give life advice that doesn\u2019t suck. Some people say I\u2019m an idiot. Other people say I saved their life. Read and decide for yourself.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

So, if you do read this book, you\u2019ve been warned \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\n

What I took from this book, and if you\u2019ve read my review of Factfulness<\/a>, you\u2019ll already know, that the world is not as f*cked as it seems, but it FEELS that way. And \"\"<\/a>Mark Manson argues that \u2018the world runs on feelings\u2019, and he has an on-going analogy that humans are guided by the \u201cthinking brain\u201d versus \u201cthe feeling brain\u201d. He sites the marketing guru Edward Bernays<\/a> for being the first to really tap into the idea that facts will always lose to feelings \u2013 does that sound familiar? Just accessing peoples feeling brain will create loyalty to anything that doesn\u2019t align with those feelings. (Side Note: Freud was Bernays\u2019 uncle!)<\/p>\n

For educators, we live this everyday. We see how the thinking and feeling brains are in a constant battle. But what Mark does in this book, is that he explains how best to temper the feeling brain, and that, when you do so, humans enter in to a richer experience. Having unlimited choice \u2018is a prison\u2019, and we experience paralysis, and usually will take the one that supplies the most pleasure. This leads to a feeling of uselessness, void of value, values and meaning. However, he writes, being able to purposefully limit one\u2019s choices, seek a less \u201cchoice-rich\u201d life, to make commitments to ideas and people, to say \u2018no\u2019 to things, to prioritize meaningful activities over short-term \u2018happiness\u2019, this is what leads to living a valuable life, one full of value and meaning.<\/p>\n

To do this, he argues, we need to create some steps, some habits that allow us resist the feeling brain. We need a process \u2013 unique to us \u2013 that helps us take steps to reach this directive. In other words, we need an algorithm: \u201ca step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end \u201c.<\/p>\n

Schools are a way to create algorithms \u2013 no, not robot-is-the-future students \u2013 but rather students who have a strong moral compass, who understand and practice ethical thinking, and who have a value-set that helps them navigate the VUCA world.<\/p>\n

We are the ultimate algorithm \u2013 so far. At the end of the book Mark addresses the\"\"<\/a> tenuous future when we will create AI machines that become better at creating AI algorithms than a human. (The Singularity comes to mind here<\/a>) To underscore this point, Mark points to an interview with Elon Musk where he says, \u201cI just hope that the machines are kind to us.\u201d For more, check out THIS LINK<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

In the end, this book gives educators an incredible toolkit of ways to council ourselves, our colleagues and our students in how to lean into the future in ways that are productive and meaningful. Ultimately, this means that we need to understand and appreciate that deep sorrow, real pain (physical and spiritual), emotional upheaval, is not something to be algorithm\u2019ed away, not something to be shunned or solved or medicated. Rather, it is this pain and sorrow that deepens the meaning of our existence and our appreciation for being human. So once you realize that the world is full of pain (i.e. that everything is f*cked), then you can get down to living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everything is f*cked. Really? That\u2019s some bold language to use to describe the world. Sure, you might even agree that this sentiment sums up the the current state of affairs. However, this isn\u2019t a book about the current state of affairs, it\u2019s a book about YOU. No, I\u2019m not saying that you\u2019re not \u201cF*cked\u201d. No,…
Read more →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":18,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,23,72],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-21st-century-skills","category-leadership","category-wellness","tag-book-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":737,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}