The Rudest Book EverThe Rudest Book Ever

Shwetabh Gangwar built an audience on YouTube by saying things plainly that most self help books wrap in cotton wool, and this book has the same tone. It's blunt without being cruel, and it has no interest in making you feel good about habits that hold you back.

The core of it is thinking for yourself. A lot of what we believe about success and about ourselves was handed to us by the people around us before we were old enough to question it. He asks you to look at those beliefs one at a time and keep only the ones that survive. He's especially hard on how much energy people waste judging others and worrying about being judged.

It also reads differently from most books in this genre because it's written for readers who grew up in India. The pressures he describes, and the kind of advice everyone around you is sure about, feel close to home in a way American self help usually doesn't.

The chapters are short, and each one picks a fight with something people usually accept without thinking. That makes it easy to read a chapter at a time and hard to agree with every page, which I think is the idea.

It's on my shelf as a counterweight. After a few gentle books in a row, it's good to read one that tells you directly when you're making excuses.