“Every other day there’s a new crusade that all Right-Thinking, Moral People must support. Crusades are popular because they allow the average moron to think he’s important.” – Matt Forney, When Good Men Do Nothing

The following review will be the most controversial post to have ever appeared in the history of this site. Read at your own risk, you’ve been warned.

Matt Forney is by far the balliest blogger that I’ve ever read. Writing under his real name, he’s managed to incur the wrath of groups such as Anonymous, and have all of Portland declare a Fatwa on him (seriously, it was like the Salman Rushdie controversy but with hipsters substituting in for radical Muslims).

The reason that Forney is so controversial, is due to the fact that nothing is too sacred for him to satire and criticize. Feminism, Men’s Rights Activists, voting, and other bloggers are all fair game for Forney to call out and lampoon. Because of this, you will get offended by some of his writings.

Because his latest book, Trolling for a Living: The Best of Matt Forney, Volume One, is a compilation of Forney’s various blog entries, it contains a lot of controversial material. I found myself unable to objectively review this book. It’s well written and interesting, but there were several points where my own personal biases overtook my ability to objectivity critique certain articles. As such, I’m simply going to list my likes and dislikes about Trolling for a Living:

Good

I really enjoyed Forney’s articles on masculinity, especially Why I’m Manning Up which is one of the best social critiques I’ve ever read.

You’ve Got Bigger Problems Than the Game and How to Start a Game Blog are both hilarious satires of the pickup culture.

Anatomy of a Hater is a fantastic article that any blogger can relate to. It also contains this gem of a passage:

“Because I’m open about my identity, I get angrier and more deranged haters than the average manospherian. I haven’t achieved my goals of being ripped and accomplished yet, but I’m working on them, a crucial step most people can’t even take. I’m doing something epic and incredible that few have the balls to attempt. If you think I’m just a fat bum with delusions of grandeur, I ask you a legit question: what do you think I should be doing? I mean, since you’re so much cooler than I am, clearly you can point me in the right direction.”

The two essays on social interactions for introverts are insightful and useful.

There’s some great humor throughout the entire book. Almost every article has at least one memorable joke, my favorite being:

“She’s war booty, and you’re Genghis Khan.”

All articles, including the ones I disagreed with, are still well written and contain valid arguments.

Bad

The following complaint applies to the entire manosphere, which is a blogging collective that both Forney and myself are associated with, in essence this is a criticism of the entire genre, rather than a single work: there’s too much negativity and too many complaints about women. I personally don’t really like reading about how society is going down the tubes and how [insert group] is to be blamed. Because of this, I didn’t find the book’s articles on Men’s Rights and Feminism to be all that interesting.

Conclusion

If you like his site, which I actually do, I recommend supporting the Forney by picking up a copy of Trolling for a Living. The good far outweighs whatever nitpicks I have, and I found the majority of the book to be quite entertaining and interesting.

As an added incentive, Trolling for a Living is available for half it’s regular price from now until Sunday.

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