‘Self-help’ and ‘self-improvment’ is essentially just another publishing fad. These books get published not because they actually help anyone do anything, but because there’s a market for them and money to be made. Without a trace of cynicism, it is reasonably safe to suggest that 90% of these books are really only intended to achieve one improvement - a major improvement to the author’s bank balance.
Ask yourself this: how many times in your life did you know someone who had some sort of major personal ‘self help’ issue to deal with, and they dealt with it successfully, and they told you that it was all down to a book they read? I’ll bet the answer is either ‘not often’ or ‘never’.
There are exceptions, but it’s very much a case of caveat emptor. It’s very nice to think that buying a book will make a big difference, but 9 out of 10 people who buy a ‘self help’ book never read it; of those that read it, 9 out of 10 will never actually implement whatever half-baked theories it suggests; and of those who do, 9 out of 10 will not actually achieve any significant change.
In many cases, you can readily see that the content falls into two categories: stuff that’s common sense and stuff that isn’t. The common sense stuff works, sure enough, but then again… it is just common sense. The stuff that isn’t might work or might not, and there’s usually zilch by way of proof one way or the other. For all you know, it’s just wishful thinking by the author, or half-baked sky pie that tells you what you want to believe in return for your dollars.
If anyone wants to make some easy money, the ‘tell them what they want to hear’ recipe is the way to go. If you sit down and write a book called “Losing weight is going to involve some keen effort down the gym for at least 12 weeks and a radical re-think of what you actually shovel into your face” then the chances are it won’t sell very many copies. On the other hand, “Your EEZY-WAY 10 day Miracle Slimming Plan!” (subtitle: ‘No exercise and stuff yourself with chocolate yet STILL lose weight!’) will probably shift by the truck load. Armed with this information, go and look over the titles in the ‘self help’ section at the book store. If the book seems to promise that someting that ought to be difficult is actually as easy as whistling Dixie, then it’s probably a waste of time and trees.
Also, try taking a good look at the photos of the author. If Dr. Phil knows so damn much, how come he’s visibly fat, overweight and paunchy? If he’s got such a gung-ho, positive, you-can-do-it attitude, how come he can’t shift his lardy ass down to the gym three times a week and get in shape?
As I said, there are exceptions. If it’s written by Kathleen Hawkins, it’s good stuff every page of the way.