a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
AlderaanDuran  ·  3954 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ask Hubski: Are Self-Help Books Helpful?

Yes. Does the whole book change your life? No, probably never, unless you're extremely naive. But I've read plenty of self help books, and they do help. In almost every one I've read, there's always at least a couple of takeaways, or statements that make me think long and hard about my own life, and pinpoint what I'm doing wrong or right. I wasn't into them at first, but there was a period in my life where I was like "can't make things WORSE by reading some self help books", and I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

To name a few on my shelf that are well known:

-Think and Grow Rich. (Classic)

-How to Win Friends and Influence People. (Classic)

-The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

To name a few on my book shelf that are NOT well known:

-The Power of Focus.

-Optimal Thinking.

-The Rules of Life.

-The Power of Now. (I noticed TNG also mentioned this one)

-The Wisdom of Insecurity (Alan Watts, Zen writer, and Zen approach to helping yourself, awesome.)

-The Book (Alan Watts again, more Zen focused, awesome.)

-The Way of Zen (Alan Watts again...)

And plenty more that I don't have on my shelf that I read from the library.

So, are any of these a silver bullet? No, not really, but they all had certain things that I took away from them, even if it was a single powerful quote that really struck home with me, it was worth it. I also find reading in general to be "self help". I've learned plenty about myself just from reading Vonnegut or F. Scott Fitzgerald books.

But if I had to pick a few that had the biggest influence on me, I'd pick the Alan Watts books I mentioned. They are mostly books about Zen Buddhism, but at the same time I'd consider them self help books, because at the end of the day, they are about a "better" way to approach life and keep your thoughts focused. He really opened my eyes up to such a novel way of viewing and approaching life, that it has indeed changed my life and the way I live it.