Self Help general

[Anonymous No.11807326]

new to reading and i cant get enough of it, None of my friends read (i try to encourage them) though so i need people to talk to

[Anonymous No.11807332]

>>11807326
please stop shilling these books here, this isn't FB and people can see right through it. Its bad, you're stupid for reading it, your friends are vaguely smart for ignoring you. Read a real book, philosophy, history, biography, polemic, essay, poetry, literature and then make a good thread about it. Even if you don't know what to say, just post "what did i think of this /lit/?" or "what about 'x' and why not 'y'?" or countless other basic preliminary questions. If you present yourself like this, while there will still be roving trolls trying to pillage and derail your attempt at discourse, and while many posters will respond sardonically and ironically, you will get real discussion and if the thread is really good the best posters will contribute and you may see critiques, takes and commentary that you wouldn't get even in literary journals. Ok?

fuck off

[Anonymous No.11807338]

folks aren't very nice here, so prepare yourself for a lot of being talked down to

[Anonymous No.11807348]

>>11807338
that's because this isn't reddit, and please don't say folks or y'all you are not volkish, you are not a nigger, you did not grow up in the countryside, chances are very good you are white and from the suburbs, stop the performance. We're not your "folk" and you are not volkish.

[Anonymous No.11807352]

>>11807326
>new to reading

[Anonymous No.11807355]

>>11807326

lol

[Anonymous No.11807368]

>>11807348
you have to go back

[Anonymous No.11807369]

>>11807326
>new to reading

are you a toddler?

[Anonymous No.11807379]

>>11807348
well looky here, looks like we got ourselves a little cuntboy

[Anonymous No.11807381]

Ignore everyone here. They despise self help books because if they read one, they'd be employed and not posting here.

[Anonymous No.11807398]

Read the stoics. It's the only self help worth a shit.

[Anonymous No.11807421]

>>11807381
What? I don't read self-help books because they are written with the sole purpose of making money and the content reflects that. They are all amalgamations of ideas in classic works on philosophy and politics. They are for lazy people who need to be told what to do instead of figuring it out themselves by building a foundation for introspection.

OP's book is pop stoicism. Why not just go straight to the source and read Epictetus and Seneca? Because laziness.

[Anonymous No.11807427]

>>11807421
t. elitist

if the understanding is the same who care how it is achieved, with less effort, or more effort. it ideas can be made to be understood with less effort, the ideas have a greater chance of reaching more people... and if its a benevolent, beneficial idea for people to have, shouldn't we want as many people to be able to get it?

[Anonymous No.11807432]

>>11807421

Building yourself from an already strong foundation is not laziness.

If you really believe what you just wrote, why read any books at all? Are you too lazy to come up with those ideas yourself?

Or is it because you try to create your own way of living based on written wisdom?

[Anonymous No.11807435]

>>11807348
"This is MY secret book klub. No gurls allowed! xD"
As if we all weren't someone like OP at one point. That also includes you, before you disappeared into your own asshole.

[Anonymous No.11807445]

>>11807432
I don't really understand what you're trying to say.

Post >>11807421 recommends readings classics that were never written with the goal of fleecing the gullible public. They wrote to express their thoughts and ideas and bring about public discourse in the hopes of general improvement. These are fairly different purposes and instead of even acknowledging that you start pulling random bs for no apparent reason

[Anonymous No.11807448]

>>11807421
>>11807432

And if you've never read the books, how could you possibly have a strong enough grasp to give such a broad analysis?

Oh wait, it's because you merely Parrott what other bourgeois assholes have said about them.

Pop elitism.

[Anonymous No.11807452]

>>11807326
which kind of books are you interested in
other than self help ones

[Anonymous No.11807455]

>>11807445

What I'm getting at is that some people prefer more applicable self-help books than a rabbit hole of literature that would consume their lives trying to understand and apply.

Fundamentally, all books that convey ideas on ways of living to the reader are trying to build a foundation.

[Anonymous No.11807469]

>>11807448
I've never read the books because I know that all of the self-help books that anyone could ever need have already been written. Anything else is someone trying to profit.

[Anonymous No.11807474]

Meditations by Emperor Marcus Aurelius
The book that started it all.

[Anonymous No.11807479]

>>11807455
It doesn't have to be a rabbit hole. If you want an approachable self-help book that was not intended for an audience (that the author could profit from) then try reading one of the many versions of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Sure the rabbit hole goes deeper, but read this one book, and I guarantee you'll never go back to pop self-help books.

[Anonymous No.11807513]

>>11807479

I personally don't read self help because I don't need it (I'm not OP), I have seen a few of my friends really get their act together because they found inspiration in certain pop self help books. The classics just aren't for everyone.

Take Jordan Peterson for example. Everyone has their own opinion on him but the man has clearly THOROUGHLY studied the classics and has produced his own brand of self help to make that philosophy palatable for the layman, and that's something that will always have a place in society.

I certainly respect that lit lovers will always have more respect for the classics.

I personally have read Locke, Hobbes, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Dostoevsky, and Kafka.

Also my comments were...
>>11807455
>>11807448
>>11807432

[Anonymous No.11807553]

>>11807448
just read meditations and the enchiridion

[Anonymous No.11807587]

>>11807513
I can't speak to Jordan Peterson or his influences because I haven't read any of his books. I've read through the Stoics, Greeks, Machiavelli, and Nietzsche as well, but I mostly focus on classical liberalism these days. I'm sure there's much to be gained from stuff like Peterson, and yeah there will always be a place in society for his works, like Barnes and Noble (sorry I had to). Forgive me but I'll always be partial to the founders of these ideas, and I would expect the vast majority of /lit/ posters to share that sentiment.

I am
>>11807479
>>11807421
>>11807469

[Anonymous No.11807673]

>>11807587

Oh I totally agree. I was talking about how the public at large benefits from self help, not the /lit/erary minds we have here.

Good talk!

[Anonymous No.11807684]

>>11807348
I always want to write out y'all because I'm from Kentucky but I lack the confidence to do so. Instead I just say you all.

[Anonymous No.11807686]

>>11807326
You sound retarded

[Anonymous No.11807717]

>>11807432
>Building yourself from an already strong foundation is not laziness.
>Dumb pop stoicism is a good foundation for Seneca, Epictetus etc.
HAHAHAHAHAH

[Anonymous No.11807880]

>>11807717

Not at all. I clearly elaborated on it in my later comments.

[Anonymous No.11808337]

>>11807355
put your hands down dumbass

[Anonymous No.11809503]

>>11807379
I hate to post soijack but eat shit

[Anonymous No.11809586]

>>11807326
http://www.gkc.org.uk/gkc/books/All_Things_Considered.html#THE_FALLACY_OF_SUCCESS

[Anonymous No.11809607]

>>11807348
>Imagine having so many issues that seeing a word you don't like makes you throw a temper tantrum

It's ok Anon, no one here will hurt you

[Anonymous No.11809618]

>>11807348
sheesh, who hurt you, sweetie?

[Anonymous No.11809749]

>>11809607
>>11809618
>who hurt you
>you must be fun at parties
>sweet summer child
holy shit you faggots need to leave
>>11809503
this

[Anonymous No.11809769]

>>11809503
I hate this shit but 4chan is no better. Every other post is some form of "based and redpilled" "t. NPC"

[Anonymous No.11809784]

>>11809769
thats true but both of those memes are relatively new and NPC is a forced meme started by some discord group after the study surfaced on /pol/

[Anonymous No.11809843]

>>11807421
>Why not just go straight to the source and read Epictetus and Seneca?

Sometimes you need to spoon-fed.
I got more out of one read of pic related, than months of reading stoic literature, because it systematized all the stoic wisdom into easy step-by-step techniques.
This book introduced REBT, an empirically tested therapeutic method based on stoicism.

[Anonymous No.11809848]

>>11807326

>mfw /lit/ has stooped so low that they'll fall for elementary bait

[Anonymous No.11809854]

>>11809848
>le epic depression image
GOD IM SO DEPRESSED LOL

[Anonymous No.11809875]

>>11807326
Self-help books are for those who are unable to quit the biggest motivation drain of them all, sexual release. They are unable to stop masturbating or having sex and need to rely on discipline because sexual losses have depleted their motivation. The effect is damning, it slates motivational pathways to be directed to some means of getting off, and after it's done, prolactin is released which further depletes motivation.

[Anonymous No.11809915]

>>11809854

>>>/reddit/

[Anonymous No.11810747]

>>11807332
>>11807348
Fuck you, you elitist. This board is not your safe space.

[Anonymous No.11811190]

>>11807326
I read a bit of that book when I was in kind of a slump one year. It was pretty obvious shit, but sometimes it's comforting to have someone tell you obvious shit. Certainly was there.
I don't think self-help books are a scourge or anything like that. Most of them are probably just hot-air, but people get some satisfaction out of them, so what's the harm in it? If it makes you feel better, go for it.

[Anonymous No.11811206]

Supposedly the Chimp Paradox is good.

[Anonymous No.11811216]

>>11809843
In the past week or so, I've seen 3-4 posts favoring A Guide to Rational Living over stoic literature and using the word "spoonfed". You really like this book, don't you anon?

[Anonymous No.11811263]

>>11809875
a hard pill to swallow

[Anonymous No.11811274]

>>11811263
what about this one: my penis

[Anonymous No.11811287]

>>11811274
wash it

[Anonymous No.11811291]

>>11811287
ok thanks can i try yours

[Anonymous No.11811299]

>>11811291
am not lesbo

[Anonymous No.11811305]

>>11811299
pretty please

[Anonymous No.11812556]

Reminder that there is literally nothing wrong with being an elitist about literature

[Anonymous No.11812630]

>>11807348
to a certian degree
this
the proper white man aryan volkish esoteric term
is
youse

[Anonymous No.11813881]

>>11807326
I am suspicious about self-help books. I'm even suspicious about ancient "philosophers" that everyone slobbers over. This whole genre is cringy and maybe even dangerous.

[Anonymous No.11813914]

>>11807452
Money, economic

[Anonymous No.11813997]

>>11807369
kek

>>11807398
Good advice.

>>11809875
Not wrong.

>>11813881
You're right to be suspicious, but that does not deny that these books do help some individuals, such as OP. The important part is what book do you read next?

The ancients, however, seem to have lived more thoughtful and vigourous lives. Their words seem to me more digested than our contemporaries. Now, I agree with Nietzsche that the modern psychology is incredibly more complex, but this does not preclude the strength, conviction, and vivacity of the ancients. If the world read more Hellenics and the Hellenistics, our world would brim with far greater joys, virtues, and excitements.

[Anonymous No.11814079]

>>11813997
>Hellenics and the Hellenistics
any books you could advice?

[Anonymous No.11814157]

>>11807332
This
>>11807326
>>11810747
Fuck off back to /r/ books where you belong. This is a literature board.

[Anonymous No.11814169]

>>11814079
It depends on what you like and what your interests are.

For Plato, the Symposium is the number one recommend; the Republic is the most canon; I personally really like Protagoras, Ion, and Lesser Hippias. The whole first tetralogy is great though: Euthrapho, Apology, Crito, Phaedo. The First Alcibides is also interesting; the NeoPlatonist's made it the first work of Plato for initiates.

For Aristotle, I haven't done much. I really enjoyed the Eudemian Ethics (over the Nicomachean). Otherwise, I've only read the Poetics over the above, and several fragments.

For the Stoics, none of the Hellenistic works really surive, but Epictetus' Enchiridion is a super easy and super short read which is great. Follow that either with Aurelius' Meditations, or Epictetus' Discourses. I would generally say avoid Seneca, as he's a poser -- but he has a few good letters and works; just keep him for last.

For the Epicureans, Epicurus' maxims are short and simple and great. Follow them with a few letters.

For the Cynics, just grab pic related. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Ultimately, I think a really good an easier primer would be if you do:

Epictetus' Enchiridion
Epicurus' Maxims
Plato's Euthypro
Pic Related
Plato's Symposium (or Republic)
Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics
Plato's Lesser Hippias
+following any thinker that interests you the most from above.

This can all be aided if you throw in some thinkers who keep this Greek Spirit alive such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche:
-Schopenhauer: 'Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life' (from Parenga and Parlipomena)
-Assorted Maxims from Nietzsche: intro to Twilight of the Idols, the preface of poems in The Gay Science, the fourth chapter of Beyond Good and Evil; maybe Zarathustra if you want a 'novel'-like experience

[Anonymous No.11814220]

>>11807326
Adlerian psychology is the best self-help available. Read in order:
>The Courage to be Disliked
a short Japanese bestseller, heavily inspired by Adler
https://b-ok.xyz/book/3509074/cc3423
>Primer of Adlerian Psychology
brief introduction to Adlerian psychology
https://b-ok.xyz/book/2926712/a7e06e
>The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler
in-depth introduction to Adlerian psychology in a form of a reader with commentary
https://b-ok.xyz/book/2314747/ba541b

[Anonymous No.11815069]

>>11807332
True. Mass-appeal self help, the genre of self-help, is to be disrespected.

[Anonymous No.11815795]

>>11811216
Yeah. Anon's keep asking about self-help/depression/stoicism so I keep posting it.

[Anonymous No.11816205]

kill yourself nigger

[Anonymous No.11816362]

I want to write a self help / improvement series and publish it on amazon, with some sort of blog to advertise it. Will I be successful? People seem to eat this bullshit up and I want to get on the gravy train, too.
How are they marketed? Where can I find the useless wankers who buy this shit? I swear to god no one who reads self help actually makes any changes to their life. They read it to feel good for a week or so and then need to buy their next hit. These books are a drug and I want to be the dealer.