/lit/ - Literature

I'm an expert in a pretty specific field, and in my opinion upwards of 95% literature is completely useless if you have the very basic knowledge of the subject.

>includes free hypnosis CD

What is "self-help"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCsM35H9TFA

That's a very good cover.

"Self help" but it's written by someone else? If you did it by yourself, then you didn't need any help.

RIP GC

>>2469398
luls

yes, religious books.

DFW had an obsession with self-help books . . . not that it helped.

http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/inside-david-foster-wallaces-private-self-help-library

My ex and her mom were obsessed with them. They used them like a drug: they'd read them any time they felt bad, imagining they could be rich in six months. They'd do a week of work, then just stop, and restart the process the next month after depression closed in again.

What I always found weird about them was how empty the advice was. They would only tell you generic, no-brainer stuff like 'persevere', 'believe', and 'do a little at a time' but never gave you any real concrete plans about how to change things.

>>2469451
They don't help unless you're committed, unless you have some kind trust in the power of religious revelation. Beyond that they are helpful only insofar as any educational resource is helpful. reading and learning in general is 'self help'

>>2469463

Maybe the books did help, one may have been in tying knots.

How to Win Friends & Influence People

The seminal self-help book first published in 1936. It's even referenced in a Bob Dylan song.

Hill's Manual of Social and Business Forms, 1832

http://www.archive.org/details/manualofsochills00hillrich

This one was great. Most of its content is dated, but there's a great deal of information contained which is still pertinent today

>>2469490
>>2469490

I have and I enjoyed it and found it useful. Pic related, it's one of my favourite self help books.

>>2469504
Stoicism is the only way for a man like myself to attain fulfillment

>>2469486

Pretty solid advice there. None of it is mind shattering but it does a good job of reminding you of stuff you might not otherwise thought of.

I'm in the middle of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography right now. It's a pretty effective self help book if you treat it as such.

>>2469523
I endeavor to never pay too much for my whistle.

Only Americans buy selfhelp books.

>>2469550
There are many good books that are marketed as self-help by publishers to sell to a greater market. The trouble with that is that all self help books are then wrote off as garbage because there's 20 eastern feelgood philosophy bullshit for every 1 decent title.

>>2469550

Not true. They're incredibly popular in China/Taiwan.

>>2469550
And he was the most American of us all.

http://www.theawl.com/2011/04/inside-david-foster-wallaces-private-self-help-library

>>2469649
Fuck forgot the image