The Courage to Be Disliked

How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness

By: Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga

Narrated by: Noah Galvin, Graeme Malcolm, January LaVoy

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The Courage to Be Disliked, already an enormous best seller in Asia with more than 3.5 million copies sold, demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be.

Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 20th-century psychology, The Courage to Be Disliked follows an illuminating conversation between a philosopher and a young man. The philosopher explains to his pupil how each of us is able to determine our own life, free from the shackles of past experiences, doubts, and the expectations of others. It's a way of thinking that is deeply liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change and to ignore the limitations that we and other people have placed on us. The result is a book that is both highly accessible and profound in its importance. Millions have already read and benefited from its wisdom. This truly life-changing audiobook will help you declutter your mind of harmful thoughts and attitudes, helping you to make a lasting change, achieve real happiness, and find success.

©2018 Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

Should be mandatory reading at school across the US.

The book is very very deep entrenched in Greek philosophy, I’d say stoicism especially.
The way it is presented makes it very accessible and useful to today’s life, and even more to teenagers and young adults that are having a hard time to find a solid foundation from where to build their future on.
Great and straightforward.

Very Good not great

I really liked parts of this book and the general message seems on point but it really slowed down in parts. I felt they’d arrive at some fairly obvious points but dive way in like it was a profound shift. If you like works of psychology and philosophy this will be a good fit. But it has elements of self help that didn’t appeal to me. Very good, not great.

I found this book to be very insightful

this book is a must-read for those that want to improve their lives and the lives of others

My life is forever altered

I cannot begin to express the things I’ve learned from this book. I’ve only just finished so I have so much to ponder on and little grounds to try and explain the book myself - but I can say I’ve already begun to live in the here and now due to this book.

Adlerian psychology (the focal point of this book) is also a philosophy - you have to have an open mind about the ideas discussed here as it challenges all modern ideas of how to lead a happy life. You are the only person in control of what you do - it just takes the courage to realize this fact and act upon it, in the here and now. Not in the past, not in the future, it’s about what you’re doing now; today.

While I realize this review may seem nonsensical I haven’t fully come to grips with everything discussed in the book. What I can say is that if you love to learn, are open to new ways of thinking, and want to lead a life you find meaningful... pick up this audio book and treat yourself to the freedom of endless possibility.

Adlerian psychology

I majored in psych in college and never really heard of Adler. Perhaps in passing but it was always Freud, Jung etc. Now I wish I had. The book presented a very intriguing, non-trauma based approach to interpreting reality, “now” and life experiences. Author made a great point about how Freudian trauma based psychology shifts an individual into a deterministic and ultimately nihilistic mindset.


If we are always looking back at past experiences we can’t change we can never really move forward or live in the now. We are then victims of fate/automatons, leaving a cause and effect sort of life. What the authors intend to present, is a different way of looking at life and experiences. I definitely enjoyed the paradigm shift. Thank you.

I like the idea of this book.

This book was very informative and I enjoyed listening to the different topics that came up. I try to incorporate some of the thought processes into my personal life. I felt that the book got a bit boring towards the end. However, I normally read fiction and mystery books, so my opinion is probably biased. Definitely listen to this, I think it helps change your mindset on many situations.

This book delivers.

It's not often that I'm exposed to a book that effectively convinces me to challenge my cognitive, emotional, and behavioral habits effectively. This book does that and more. I found the Socratic dialogue approach quite useful in content and in style. Well worth the purchase and time. Definitely will be a recurring listen.

Fascinating Listen

While the performance threw me off at first, the philosophy being discussed was incredibly compelling. Just finished and I am going to listen again.

I have had quite a hard time relating to people that I am not disregarding them. This has given language behind what I have naturally practiced...the separation of tasks. There is so much to learn from in this dialogue and I highly recommend everyone give it a chance.

What a fantastic book!

One of the better reads I’ve had in a while! Very deep, meaningful, and true inspection of human psychology, sociology, and the meaningfulness of life.

Many Thanks

This book is more than what people would expect. Please give it a chance and hopefully we all become better people for it. Game changer for my life. Thank you.