The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
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The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
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Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#2Author isn’t wrong per se, but has a thing or two to learn about human nature. The polemic as written is weak.
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#3I totally disagree with the premise of this article, unless I don't get the authors definition of "self help book"
> there is an entire book industry that is focused on the premise that you are merely one good idea away from the future
Many famous people started out with one good idea
> The entire business-focused self-help industry is built on the fallacy that successful people read a lot of books
Many famous successful people promote the face that they read a lot of books, such as Bill Gates and Barack Obama. It's not a fallacy.
There's a lot of junk self help books to wade through, but I have found some jewels among the trash and by jewels I mean they were just right for the situation and age I was at.
Edit: I put together a list off the top of my head of self help books I found useful (again, at the age I was at)
I'm OK – You're OK, guide to transactional analysis by Thomas Harris
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships by Eric Berne
Trances We Live by Stephen Wolinsky
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Zen and the Art of Leadership by Thomas Cleary
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#4I can't speak to the topics addressed in the article itself, but the thing I find most annoying is that _most_ of the people who publish these books (and guides on YouTube, blogs, for-pay video series, etc.) seem to have made their fortunes through the works that are intended to teach people how to build up their own wealth/lifestyle/happiness.
Slightly related are people who serially interview successful people and try to weasel out words of advice or quotables, but never reveal things of greater depth that has more impact on the viewers/listeners/readers (few interviewers do, IMO).
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#5>a book that tells you stuff like “remember people’s names” and “make them feel important,” which seems benign, but should only seem surprising to a child, and should not be something you have to unnaturally force your body to do.
there is much good in pointing out the scamminess of the self-help industry, but this is a good example of making exactly the sort of assumptions the author is railing against. Many basic life lessons that 'should be unsurprising' are extremely important for people who grew up in contexts of emotional neglect.
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#6I totally disagree with the premise of this article, unless I don't get the authors definition of "self help book" > there is an entire book industry that is focused on the premise that you are merely one good idea away from the future Many famous people started out with one good idea > The entire business-focused self-help industry is built on the fallacy that successful people read a lot of books Many famous succes…
>Many famous people started out with one good idea
Which had nothing or almost nothing to do with their success.
Bezos didn't succeed because he had the idea to "make an online bookstore".
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#7Self-help books are a scam because essentially we scam ourselves out of self-improvement. Instead of doing the obvious, like eat less & exercise more, we hope that some idea instead of hard work will actually make us improve. Ideas can be powerful and motivating, but anyone who thinks that they can improve their lives by doing nothing is deluding themselves.
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#8Author isn’t wrong per se, but has a thing or two to learn about human nature. The polemic as written is weak.
The main lesson to learn is that people will cling to hope peddlers no matter how BS it is.
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#9I totally disagree with the premise of this article, unless I don't get the authors definition of "self help book" > there is an entire book industry that is focused on the premise that you are merely one good idea away from the future Many famous people started out with one good idea > The entire business-focused self-help industry is built on the fallacy that successful people read a lot of books Many famous succes…
I've avoided "Think and Grow Rich" for a long time due to the title and premise of the book. I picked it up a few weeks ago and really like it.
Heck, I think if I read it 10 years ago I wouldn't even have the emotional maturity to appreciate it. There's a beauty to some of these books --- some of the ideas seem obvious and can easily be written off until you have the emotional wherewithal and maturity to appreciate the difficulty of what they are suggesting.
"Think and Grow Rich" is a good example. What do you mean... I just have to write a vision for myself that I believe I can achieve, and read it twice a day? Sounds stupid.
... and then you realize how difficult it is for people to truly come up with a vision statement for their success that they legitimately believe they can achieve within a specific time frame... And that doing this correctly is the hard part.
Brilliant.
Re: The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
#10>a book that tells you stuff like “remember people’s names” and “make them feel important,” which seems benign, but should only seem surprising to a child, and should not be something you have to unnaturally force your body to do. there is much good in pointing out the scamminess of the self-help industry, but this is a good example of making exactly the sort of assumptions the author is railing against. Many basic l…
This so much!!!