The Courage to Be Disliked

This is a book about Alfred Adler's approach to psychology. Adler was a contemporary of Freud and Jung. Although not as widely known these days, he was one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. As per the sub-title, the book was originally a “Japanese phenomenon.” It was written by Ichiro Kishimi (an authority on Adlerian psychology who translated a couple of Alfred Adler’s books into Japanese) and Fumitake Koga (an award-winning professional writer). Big Ideas we explore include the primary difference between Freud and Adler (hint: etiology vs. teleology), the importance of "separating tasks" (aka: stay out of other people's business and don't let them in yours), the ticket to freedom (hint: the courage to be disliked), the center of the world (<- is not you), and Adler's guiding star (happiness defined as contribution!).