# Favorite "Self Help" Books

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-self-help-books/332663>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 25, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-self-help-books/332663 "2005-11-25T06:52:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-self-help-books/332663/21 "2005-11-27T19:10:37Z")

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the [Modern Drunkard](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594481423/104-8501912-8005555?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance) is a pretty funny self-help for drunks who’d prefer to stay that way. 😉

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**Author:** ![skunkmama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@skunkmama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skunkmama)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-self-help-books/332663/22 "2016-06-29T23:56:13Z")

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All books are self help books if you read em right.

Specifically self help? maybe the directions on a tube of hemorrhoid cream.

very handy 😉

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-self-help-books/332663/23 "2016-06-30T18:36:54Z")

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I read the thread title to mean an entirely different concept of “self-help”. The kind people are listing are … unhelpful in my experience. Either obvious stuff or worthless gimmicks. That book, _The Secret_, that Oprah pushed years ago is a perfectly bad example.

To me, a good self-help book is like _A Book On C_ by Kelley and Pohl . It was the perfect book to teach myself C way back when I wanted to learn it. Simple, direct, nice examples, etc. Kept around for a long time for frequent reference.

The latter, I believe, is a good sign for a self-help book. Does it help you in real life? Do you keep looking up stuff in it for years and years?

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-self-help-books/332663/24 "2016-06-30T19:02:53Z")

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> [@ftg](#):
>
> The kind people are listing are … unhelpful in my experience. Either obvious stuff or worthless gimmicks.

Yeah, but one person’s “obvious stuff” is another person’s “somehow I never learned that” or “I never thought of it that way before,” which is why such books can be genuinely helpful to people.  
This thread started a decade ago, and its OP doesn’t seem to be still around; but if he’s still interested in “a list of the biggest best and most popular self help books,” I’d point him to Tom Butler-Bowdon’s [50 Self-Help Classics](http://www.butler-bowdon.com/50-self-help-classics.html) for one list and summary.

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