Book Review- Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life [Storytime Saturdays]

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A while back I received a suggestion to do book reviews for this newsletter. When I polled y’all, most of you wanted it, so here is the first attempt at a book review. Make sure you give me feedback on how you like this segment, whether you’d like this more frequently, and if you want me to make changes. Any feedback you provide will be integrated into future editions, so make sure your voice is heard as we work on improving this newsletter to meet your needs. Your feedback is especially important at this time for the newsletter. Here’s why-

Even though it’s only halfway through the year, we’ve already hit over 1 Million views on the articles. While the growth we’ve experienced recently is very gratifying, I’m no longer sure who my main audience is. I get a lot of very conflicting feedback, so I’m trying to recalibrate. All feedback that you give me, whether positive or negative, is very useful in helping me improve the quality of this newsletter.

The first book we’ll be reviewing is Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life, by Hector Garcia and Albert Liebermann. I see a lot of people on LinkedIn reference it, I know people who swear by it, and I’m always down to learn about Secrets. So with hope in my heart and a song on my lips, I ventured to learn more about Ikigai. In this article, I will share my views on the book. I will mention the positives and negatives, along with a score out of 5. If this book is your jam, feel free to check it out here.

The Venn Diagrams make it very easy to understand

Quick Disclaimer: Demographic Mismatch

I recognize that I might not be the target demographic for the book. For one, I’m happy with my life. My personal philosophy leans strongly towards Existential Nihilism. I’ve never felt the need for a “purpose” or any other such fancy words. I’m not entirely convinced that something like “lasting happiness” is strictly needed to live a good life. Instead of a half-hearted attempt at objectivity, I figured I’d acknowledge any implicit biases that I had when reading. Even if I am woke enough to run our lovely cult, I can’t review this book from any lens but my own. Keep this in mind, as you read my review.

Spoiler-Free Summary

Ikigai seeks out to answer an age-old question: What should we do to be happy? It breaks down the ideal life into different components (physical, social, etc.) and analyses each. Each claim is supported with relevant examples. The book presents a combination of these different facets as the way to find your “Ikigai” and live a good life.

Different Relevant Dimensions Scored-

1. Ease of Reading- 5/5. The book is written in a way that’s straightforward and clear with very little fluff. The book requires a fairly low reading level. In terms of language for getting the point across, more books could learn from Ikigai.

2. Evidence- 4/5. Ikigai does a good job backing up its claims with evidence. The book uses examples from Japan and beyond to show the universality of their arguments. The arguments were fairly basic, so it’s not like they needed massive amounts of data, but I still appreciate their work in backing up their arguments.

3. Information- 0.1/5. My biggest gripe with the book was that it was very obvious. Maybe I’m not grown up enough to read b/w the lines, but why is advice like “Work on your Physical Health”, “Eat a healthy diet”, and “Socialize” being treated as anything but obvious? The only reason that this score isn’t 0 is because it was interesting reading about different cultures. I think Ikigai would have been much more interesting if just talked about the different cultures instead of trying to pass off very basic advice as life-changing.

4. Actionable Advice- 5/5. The steps given are reasonable and can be implemented by most people in a reasonably good socio-economic situation.

5. Overall Score- 1/5. I personally don’t think this book is worth reading. It didn’t change my worldview, wasn’t particularly entertaining, nor did it leave me with much to think about. I’m skeptical about the premise of requiring an Ikigai- since you can always engage in multiple activities to scratch your itches. This obsession with finding one silver bullet to life’s problems feels like intellectual laziness to me.

Let’s now cover the pros and cons in a bit more detail.

The Good

Simplicity

Although the book tackles a very grandiose topic, it keeps the content relatively simple. The steps it lays out, and the things we need to align for our Ikigai are not gimmicky (which is a rarity in the self-improvement space). There are no complex or over-the-topic antics, and the essence of the book is undeniably solid. Anyone who picks up the book will be able to implement the given steps.

Examples

The book supports each claim with plenty of examples. The examples are primarily taken from Okinawa, Japan but there is geographical diversity in its examples. This is a strength because it shows the ideas it preaches are applicable across geographies. As someone who hopes to live in various communities throughout my life, this part was much appreciated.

Size

It’s not a very big book. This might cause some eye rolls, but it is a strength. The book doesn’t waste readers' time on random tangents, and with fluff. The book is minimalistic in its approach. It brings up a point, validates with examples, makes any relevant connections, and moves on. It delivers exactly what it sets out to do, and doesn’t waste anyone’s time. I have nothing against big books (Don Quixote is among my favorite books), but in a world where lots of books add fluff, this was pleasantly surprising.

The Bad

I couldn’t find anything to disagree with

That might be a strange weakness to have. But it is important. At no time did I feel like anything the book said was wrong. I never had to stop to think about what it was saying. In a way, it changed very little about me. I was already aware of the non-negotiable aspect of each pillar it mentioned. There wasn’t any especially interesting articulation, something that changed how I view an aspect of life. If someone deleted my memory of this book, it would have absolutely no change to my life.

This was it for the first book review. Let me know how y’all liked it and what changes should come.

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Devansh <3

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