Re:The Delusional Scam of the Self-Help Book Industry
by binarysolo on Thursday July 08, 2021 @04:43PM
(#27777362)
I think like a lot of other similar verticals (exercise etc.) there's quite a bit of cargo-culting, and that def gets scammy.
But for what it's worth, I do enjoy reading self-help stuff -- though for me the practice is what I focus on, not necessarily the results. People are pretty good at knowing WHAT to do, but actually doing it deliberately and doing it well is the hard part, see: exercise etc.
I do think there's a signal-to-noise issue going on with self-help books, and often times the people who need the help are understandably bad at figuring out which things are good vs bad for them.
But for what it's worth, I do enjoy reading self-help stuff -- though for me the practice is what I focus on, not necessarily the results. People are pretty good at knowing WHAT to do, but actually doing it deliberately and doing it well is the hard part, see: exercise etc.
I do think there's a signal-to-noise issue going on with self-help books, and often times the people who need the help are understandably bad at figuring out which things are good vs bad for them.