Read this for a book club. My second ever book club meeting and I love it so much! I think it is especially helpful for "self help" books to talk about it and answer potential misunderstanding or deepen the grasps. This will help me internalize the teachings better and have accountability.

The Courage to be Disliked is a philosophical book about how to be happy. The premise is that we should not look back into our past and have self pity by all that happened to us and then use those as excuses, but that we are responsible for our future and that we can choose to do what we want. It further talks a lot about locus of control and about the damage that can happen when we compare ourselves to others a lot.
I learned that the only person I should compare myself against is myself, and that I have a lot of power to change my situation. Identity is not as static as we think, and making an effort to question one's beliefs can be very rewarding.

The dialog writing style was a good idea, I think the goal was to keep it in the style of the old Greek philosopher Plato, who wrote his and Socrates' teaching down in a conversation with the youth. What I did not like was the obvious power dynamic between the Youth and the Philosopher. It seemed like the Youth was this dumb person who asked a lot of weird question, and the Philosopher was a know-it-all (although patient). This hindered me from identifying with either one, and I rather got confused by the ignorance of the youth. I think if the conversation participants would be more equal in the way they talked, I would have enjoyed reading it much more. And the points would have gotten across as more legit.

And I did not like the statement that trauma is not real. There is just too much research done on this for a person to make this statement and mean it. This does not, however, mean that we have to use trauma as an excuse to not do the things we want to. Understanding the traumas we carry and the resulting behavior changes, and possibly learning about the effects on our neuroscience and the plasticity of the brain, can actually be very empowering and increase recovery. I hope philosophers, who make claims about psychology and how it should work, learn a lot about that field and incorporate the current level of research into their statements.

Overall, still a good book that is motivating and empowering. Just minor issued I have. Plus, not the writing style I was looking for (although it definitely made the reading easier).