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Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

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Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#371

Post by cindyllm »

ghtbircshotbe wrote: post #368
drumhead wrote: post #361

There's a misconception about self help books that they teach you "tricks" that you can instantly use to become a completely different person. A lot of the good ones teach you principles that you need to practice constantly to improve. There's hard work and risk taking involved which many people that buy the books are not prepared to do. The first self help book that actually helped me was How to make friends and inf…

Self help books definitely have a bad reputation, often with good reason - lots of cliches, preachy, etc. My favorite advice (and central message I think) from "how to win friends" is to really have the other person's interests at heart, not to try to scam or game them. Some of my other favorite self help-ish books - a guide to the good life - thank you for arguing - algorithms to live by

[dead]

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#373

Post by brainzap »

wwqrd wrote: post #366
myaccountonhn wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-help books are so often ridiculued, and that ridicule is often well merited. At the same time there was a self-help book that basically gave me a whole different outlook on life, and cured my depression over night. So I can't deny they have a place and can really help people.

What was the book?

my book was one by Terry Real. The excersise to find love for myself was life changing

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#374

Post by ChrisRR »

impostervt wrote: post #372

The other way AI is killing self-help nonfiction: people are generating entire self-help books using AI. The human written are always better, but it's impossible to tell from a book cover and short description.

> The human written are always better

I suspect that's not always true. There's so many self help books out there from totally unqualified people that I suspect an AI commingling data from multiple reputable sources may beat some of the most inappropriate books

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#375

Post by globular-toast »

jeffrwells wrote: post #338

Here I had Claude rewrite his post into a 300 word version without all the filler. https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d49d81d6-7aab-4730-9c3c-4... Which I’m sharing as a meta point…I think self help books are declining because there’s a better way to get the information without all the filler. But filler makes the books thick enough to sell at the airport Also - aren’t LLMs the ultimate choose your own adventure vers…

Liquid meals in a bottle, short form videos, mainlining compressed information... all "more efficient", but lacking the colour and texture that makes things interesting and enjoyable. Maybe that's all worth sacrificing, but what are people actually doing with all the time this saves? From what I can tell it just seems to be more of the same.

People tend to spend about a third of their lives working for someone else, a third sleeping and the remaining third split between relaxing and working for themselves. This seems invariant. As people earn more money they just buy more stuff, they have no idea what to do with the extra time from not working as much so just keeping walking the hedonic treadmill.

If you can ingest compressed forms of ten self help books in the time it would have taken you to read one, does that mean you can now evaluate them all together, or include the best bits of all of them? Or are you really just addicted to trying to "get on top" and wasting your precious life away sitting at a computer talking to a fake person?

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#376

Post by ChrisRR »

digitaltrees wrote: post #117
__alexander wrote: post #50

Personally, I see the self-help industry dying because people are starting to realize that it’s just a network of individuals selling products, promoting each other’s products, and creating new avenues to sell more products. I refer to it as the “self-help mafia.” Tim Ferriss kind of created it.

Hard disagree. I have read lots of books, participated in events and training seminars and had profound results in my life. My marriage is better because of what I learned, I am a better father and leader because of what I learned. And the fact that people sell things as part of that growth journey is how they support their ability to share the lessons and techniques.

There are no doubt a lot of good self-help books out there. But there's very likely way more crap ones out there from armchair psychologists

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#377

Post by alberto467 »

digitaltrees wrote: post #117
__alexander wrote: post #50

Personally, I see the self-help industry dying because people are starting to realize that it’s just a network of individuals selling products, promoting each other’s products, and creating new avenues to sell more products. I refer to it as the “self-help mafia.” Tim Ferriss kind of created it.

Hard disagree. I have read lots of books, participated in events and training seminars and had profound results in my life. My marriage is better because of what I learned, I am a better father and leader because of what I learned. And the fact that people sell things as part of that growth journey is how they support their ability to share the lessons and techniques.

Exactly. People have just been told that there are some grifters in the field and they're unable to make the mental effort to not lump the entire field together.

Oh and the fact they're making money? Yeah everybody has to eat, psychologists don't work for free either, neither does any doctor for that matter. There are people doing good out there and yes they will charge you plenty of money for it.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#378

Post by gb2d_hn »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #341
jeffrwells wrote: post #338

Here I had Claude rewrite his post into a 300 word version without all the filler. https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d49d81d6-7aab-4730-9c3c-4... Which I’m sharing as a meta point…I think self help books are declining because there’s a better way to get the information without all the filler. But filler makes the books thick enough to sell at the airport Also - aren’t LLMs the ultimate choose your own adventure vers…

Don't know if you did it on purpose or not, but this is hilarious.

Self help books are the most filler heavy books. They often have a useful point, but they just don't need to be a book much of the time. This is unfortunate for the authors who have often put significant time into producing the information. Technical manuals typically need all of their content due to the level of detail, and novels need all of their content because it's the content which provides enjoyment. For self help, people just want to know what they need to do to make their lives better? Maybe the work has to move into academia where we have existing infrastructure for rewarding non profitable work for the good of the public?

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#379

Post by Hugsbox »

999900000999 wrote: post #365

Most self help books are useless if not harmful. Now most are just a 300 page self pitch for some subscription or another product. Most self help books are too general to be useful to anyone. You're writing your own guidebook for an audience of one.

Yep, if AI is killing the self-help book market, all I can say is good riddance.

Re: Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?

#380

Post by Gareth321 »

sinuhe69 wrote: post #351
jeffrwells wrote: post #338

Here I had Claude rewrite his post into a 300 word version without all the filler. https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d49d81d6-7aab-4730-9c3c-4... Which I’m sharing as a meta point…I think self help books are declining because there’s a better way to get the information without all the filler. But filler makes the books thick enough to sell at the airport Also - aren’t LLMs the ultimate choose your own adventure vers…

I’ve spent time to read the AI summary (which I normally never do) and the original (of course), and I can tell you the AI summary missed the most important point of the writing. I’d say what they are because it would defy the very purpose of what I’m trying to do. But I can tell you that it’s enough to refute the AI fallacy many believe.

Surely this could be corrected by using the correct prompt? If you ask an AI to summarise a book, it's going to cut out 99% of the content. If you wanted to read some of that 99% of the content, you need to be clear about what you want. Otherwise you're leaving the AI to decide. That summary might be good enough for others, but not you. Tell it the focus you would like it to use. E.g. "include anything about the philosophy behind the decision." Whatever your point of interest.

To be clear, a summary will never replace reading 300 pages. But it might be 95% good enough for most people and in most cases, and that's often good enough.

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