I was inspired by a post on Vulpes Libris to share my mixed experiences of self-help books. They seem to be more popular than ever, despite most of them being of zero merit. For goodness’ sake, when will the collective penny drop that the only way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more? I have carried out extensive research into the gin and dark Bounty bar diet and am still a heffalump. Mind you, low-carbing does seem to be effective, although it’s not great if you’re married to a vegetarian and can’t feast on a steak the size of Belgium every evening.
Some of the more general books are execrable too. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance made me want to gnaw on my own arm in boredom. The amusingly-named Awaken the Giant Within is just one collosal show-off explaining how developing an overwhelming sense of your own self importance will bag you a private jet and a career telling everyone about it. The Road Less Travelled was an absolute hoot, although that probably wasn’t intentional. I have just noticed that there’s also Further Along the Road Less Travelled, a discovery that nearly made me fall off my chair with mirth. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People does impart some wisdom, but it’s accompanied by seven highly effective ways to relieve readers of additional cash. The author also seems to have suddenly thought of an 8th habit, just as sales of the original book were flagging. I do actually have a few positive words to say on The Richest Man in Babylon. Although there is an awful lot of waffle on the eponymous Babylonian, it also contains some sound advice on managing one’s finances.
Getting Things Done reveals a useful process for dealing with “stuff” when it arrives in all its various forms. However, those lovely people at Anabubula have produced desktop wallpaper featuring a GTD flowchart. You’ll get the idea and it’ll save you finding time to read the book. There are also many great productivity tools online, such as Remember the Milk and Gubb. Oh, and Gmail now includes a handy to-do list to which you can easily add emails requiring action. They won’t help you lose weight though.
If you’re wondering, the original idea of ’self-help’ came from Samuel Smiles’ book of the same name, first published in 1859. I did read half of it a few years ago and suffice it to say, he’s of the “pull yourself together” school of thought. I might just stick to gin and Bounty bars and hope for the best.
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I’m decidely unenthusiastic about self-help books. Most recently, I’ve been trying to avoid (and where this is impossible, taking the piss out of) The Secret. For a history class at uni years ago I had to read Self Help by Samuel Smiles and it was a struggle!
One of my favourite bloggers Litlove posted only recently about how underwhelmed by Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance she was. It’s a long post, but worth reading if you have the time. The link is http://litlove.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/on-reading-zen/
Thanks for the feedback, Sarah. I’ve heard a few comments about ‘The Secret’ and suspect it would leave me clutching my sides in uncontrollable mirth. I’m not surprised you struggled with ‘Self-Help’. I picked up a copy of Samuel Smile’s ‘Thrift’ in a charity bookshop and it’s just as compelling.
It’s pleasing to discover I’m not the only one to completely miss the appeal of ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcyle Maintenance’. What a great review on Litlove. I am feeling humbled.
This post really made me laugh! I agree that self-help books are a dodgy field, and that the great epiphanies they offer are really blatantly obvious. I’m really tempted to write something about this myself, so thank you for the inspiration!
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