This is a cool little book.
It’s kind of like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho in the sense that it’s about a man’s adventure to self-fulfillment by abandoning the life initially prescribed by society. The people around both main characters think they know what’s best for them, but the protagonists have an itch that there is something more for them in life. So they go on a journey to find it. If you feel like this paragraph relates to you, How to Fight a Hydra is something you should read.
Read the quotes below and pay attention to how they make you feel.
“Adventuring is dangerous, but if I continue my present course, I will go insane.”
“Father and mother think I’m a fool.”
“My fears are justified, but not useful.”
Do they make you think? Do they spark a little anxiety? Do they make you sad? Inspired? The whole book is like this; hitting you with waves of emotions until it concludes with you feeling more confident to sprint in the direction of your dreams.
It discusses all the insecurities you have when going after a big goal that’s important to you. And most importantly, it gives you remedies to relaxing the fear. And thank goodness it does: a psychology book that tells you about all these problems you have and doesn’t offer a way out is even worse than a ruined orgasm. Some of the first books I read as an adult were in pop psychology. It’s a field I largely enjoy, but a hefty portion of books in that genre reveal problems you didn’t know you had and leave you hanging. It’s as if you’re pumped up walking to a date enjoying yourself, and someone stops you on the street, says, “you have a stain on your shirt.” You’re like, “damn, I didn’t realize that,” and now you’re freaking out about something you would have been fine not knowing. Except it’s not a stain but some acute mental illness. The man in the story and authors of those pop psychology books are assholes. Josh Kaufman, the author of How to Slay a Hydra, is not one of them.
He comes to you like the old wise man archetype and says, “Hi friend, I have a feeling you have this secret problem that you’ve never shared with anyone. I once had that too, and I’m here to share a story with you.”
It’s funny; I read this book a couple of years ago, and I was reviewing my notes on it to write this review, and the entire time I was thinking, “I really wanna reread this book.”
And if you aren’t sold yet, here’s my final pitch. The physical book is slightly larger than an index card and is only 103 pages. Kaufman tells the story in exactly the right amount of pages without rambling on about ideas that don’t improve your life. This isn’t an Applebee’s crab cake--no filler and all meat.
