Self-Help and Advice Books

[Sunnyhorse]

Have at it, folks!

[swanflake]

So, what do we think of this book?

[Yossarian]

swanflake said:

So, what do we think of this book?

You know, in these modern times men and women have really lost sight of what it is to be male or female: men are hunters and women are gathers. Women should always endeavour to make the men in their lives feel like they are in charge (even if *tee hee* we are really calling the shots).

Vomit.

Oh well, karma got them, didn't it? Both divorced I think. ;D

[Deleted]

My mother once thought about buying that for me (as a joke) for Christmas. I told her that, had she bought it, I would have clubbed her with it.

[Yossarian]

Mr Y is a bookseller and he always has a laugh when men come into buy The Game to "help" them pickup women. He says they are always a type: swaggering, bluff machismo weeds who would probably cry or wet their pants if a real woman actually spoke to them. I actually hate that book more than I hate The Rules. The Rules is just antiquated nonsense; The Game encourages men to treat women badly.

[dwanollah]

spordelia said:

My mother once thought about buying that for me (as a joke) for Christmas. I told her that, had she bought it, I would have clubbed her with it.

THTM got it for me many years ago for Valentine's Day. I used it in class for my students to learn about logical fallacy.

[ramonaq]

The best self-help book ever was Nick Hornby's How to be Good. Okay, so it isn't really a self-help book -- it's a novel. But it's this hilarious account of a woman whose husband goes crazy overboard with the desire to be a good person. He gives away all their possessions, for one thing. I read it at a time when MrQ was listening to a lot of Tony Robbins garbage, much to my chagrin. I think it cracked me up because I could see him in it.

My problem with so many of the self-help books and speakers (like Tony Robbins) is that they scream SCAM to me. I'm sure there are good ones out there, but I don't have a lot of patience for them in general.

[GirlyGhoul]

The books that have helped me most in life have been Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers (Really helped me break through some deep seated Anxiety issues); The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron; and to some extent Dreams Into Action by Milton Katsalis.

What's odd, is when I look over these books again, they don't really do much for me. But I know they all definitely helped me break through a very blocked period in my life that I don't think I could have gotten through without them. In The Artist's Way the chapter on "Crazy Makers" probably saved my life or at least the lives of a bunch of people who were making me CRAZY.

I can look back at myself 10 or 15 years ago and see that I had zero confidence, hardly any self-esteem, was scared of my own shadow and was a total pushover. I still have plenty of issues to work on, but by golly, I'm in SUCH a happier place now. I won't say it was ALL because of the books, but I know they gave me a much needed push in the right direction.

Mainly, I think it was because they all made me realize there was another way to look at things. That I DIDN'T have to take all the crap I was handed in life, or if there was no getting around it, I could at least work my way THROUGH it.

Sadly, I have since found out that Milton Katazalis is actually a big 'ol Clam and that his "Dreams Into Action" workshops are actually Scientology Recruiment scams. Which is very disappointing, because most of the book made a lot of sense to me and was very beneficial. I think he must not have been a full-fledged Clam when he wrote it. Although it does go a long way towards explaining that tedious chapter about "Putting an X through Dyslexia" which seemed to come from out of no where and had nothing much to do with the topic at hand.

[Deleted]

I must confess that I'm getting into buying business self-help books. Things like "How to be a good manager, without being a bitch"

But general self-help books have never done much for me. Well, I did enjoy Quarterlife Crisis but other than that, not so much.

As for The Rules, isn't one of them bitches divorced? Or maybe both?

[dwanollah]

I think both authors got divorced within 5 years of landing their husbands via The Rules. Yeah. Who'd want a man who'd want a Rules Girl anyway?! (Anyone remember the thread about their message boards at Hissyfit back in the day...? PRICELESS!)

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Dr. Susan Jeffers (Really helped me break through some deep seated Anxiety issues

*heads off to amazon.com*