Unf*ckology: The Science Of Unfucking Yourself (So You Can Live With Confidence) -- My Brand New Book, Published Today
I'm thrilled to announce that my new book, "Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence," was published today. It's intensely science-based, intensely practical, readable by people with zero science background, and it's also funny.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon. Here's Barnes & Noble. And here (on my books page, along with my other "bookchildren," are links to indies, Amazon UK, Canada, and more.

Reading dates in LA and Manhattan Beach below.

This is the best thing I've ever written, and I hope you'll buy one copy for yourself -- and other copies for those people in your life who shrink from opportunity or sell themselves out because of fear.

There's no reason for that -- and as you'll read in the book, I was a bullied kid with no friends who became a suckup. But I transformed, and the good news is, there's a process to that -- one anyone can follow to transform.

Here's the introduction (which I called Chapter 1, because I know many people skip book introductions!):

LOSERHOOD ISN'T DESTINY

You can't order a lightly used spine off eBay. There's no Find My Balls cousin of Find My iPhone. And nobody goes around in a tow truck with a big winch to yank people out of loserhood.

However, there actually is a way out of loserhood, and it doesn't involve a therapist--one who's looking forward to finally buying Aruba after decades of listening to you jawing on.

And no, you will not be asked to look into the mirror and recite affirmations. (If you've ever done this, you know how well it works: "I am beautiful. I am happy. I am confident. I am...kidding myself. I am still the same fucking loser I was before I wasted ten minutes doing this bullshit.")

All you actually have to do to change is behave like the confident person you want to be.

I get it--that probably sounds unbelievable--but you'll see in the next chapter that I did this, and I was a particularly hopeless case. I didn't transform myself magically, by bathing my brain in some kind of self-help rays; I did it through the emotionally grubby work of re- peatedly acting the way confident people do.

This book gives you all the steps you need to get from point worm (or just mildly underconfident) to full personhood--the point where you aren't always squirming on the inside about what to say or do and whether somebody will approve. Best of all, getting to the point where you go out into the world as the full you doesn't require exceptional intelligence, piercing intuition, or--in case you were wondering-- a bullet-deflecting bodysuit with bat ears. You just need to be so sick of living like a human crumb (or just not as fully as you could be) that you're willing to shove your way through your fears and take action.

This isn't to say you won't be afraid--at least for a while. But I'm hoping you'll come to the conclusion I did--that being afraid to do something isn't good enough reason to let yourself duck out of doing it.

While we're at it, I should mention that this is not a "self-help book." (Gross.) This is a science-help book--a self-unfucking science-help book. "Science-help" is a term coined by my science journalist friend David DiSalvo, describing advice that's based on evidence from scientific research. So, no, this book will not advise you to pester the universe to heal you. (The universe isn't listening and doesn't give a shit.)

This book likewise does not contain "The Secret," which is the title of a best-selling book based on the tempting premise that positive thinking works like a giant magnet to pull whatever you want right to you. Supposedly, if you want a new car, you just picture it and think grateful thoughts about it (as if it were already yours) and some pocket in the universe will unzip and out will drop your fabulous new dream ride, right into your life. (Yes, that's right. You only lack that flying Bentley convertible because you haven't put your mind to making it pop up in your carport.)

Ultimately, if Unf*ckology does have a "secret," it's that if you get off your ass and do what the science suggests, you can have a far better life.

Not "someday."

Starting NOW.

I call this living by the "car crash principle." People will tell you, "It was only after I got in that horrible car wreck that I realized I'd better seize the moment--stop wasting my life."

The way I see it, why wait? Why not choose to live that way right now--without the twisted metal, disfiguring injuries, and years in rehab spent pushing a ball across a table with your nose?

There will be readings in Los Angeles, and I hope you will ask your college or organization to bring me in to talk. Here I am giving a TED talk, and here I am on Joe Rogan's podcast, free-form.

Readings with firm dates now include:

•Pages in Manhattan Beach, Wednesday, February 28, 7pm. Address: 904 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266.

•Barnes & Noble at The Grove, Sunday, March 11, 2pm. Address: 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036.

Please, everybody come!