Posts: 71
Threads: 23
Joined: May 9, 2009
Reputation:
1
Self Help/Self Improvment
May 12, 2009 at 8:39 pm
My mother has this odd obsession with self help books and movies and whatnot. It's cool and everything, she can do her thing, but now she's got me reading some of it, haha.
Is self-help a bad thing, really? I mean, more power to you if it works and you want to be a better "you", awesome, but how do you know when the self help auther isn't bullshitting you?
Posts: 43162
Threads: 720
Joined: September 21, 2008
Reputation:
133
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
May 12, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I have read shitloads of self-help books and I think my own personal conclusion is...
..despite the fact they may help SOME people..
...I think they're obvious bullshit that wastes your money...OR bullshit that's just plain bullshit that wastes your money.
And I also think the term 'self-help' doesn't make any sense as George Carlin says.
I'm totally gonna paraphrase him now cos I can't remember it exactly...
He basically explains though how if you could do it yourself then you wouldn't need help..and you are getting help from books which are written by other people so - that's help! If you could do it by yourSELF then you wouldn't need help! So what exactly is self-help? It makes it sound important but I think the whole concept is bullshit lol.
EvF
Posts: 835
Threads: 47
Joined: September 18, 2008
Reputation:
3
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
May 13, 2009 at 4:06 am
Agree with the guys above, self help books are just a waste of money.
- Science is not trying to create an answer like religion, it tries to find an answer.
Posts: 21
Threads: 7
Joined: April 22, 2010
Reputation:
1
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
April 22, 2010 at 6:57 pm
(This post was last modified: April 23, 2010 at 9:05 am by rax.)
Ya, this is such crap. Self-help books are not worthless. The problem is that there are too many worthless self-help books out there that give the genre a bad rap. There are some good ones that are worth reading and applying.
'Think and Grow Rich' is probably a pretty good self help-book.
'The Secret' is a BAD self-help book.
To give you an example. I have ADHD and was having problems in college. I'm also a vet so I went to the VA mental health for help. I was referred to a neuropsychologist with whom I worked for months. She helped me in a lot of ways and recommended a few 'self-help' books to me as well. I got a lot out of the experience.
The only thing a self-help book does is pretty much lay out a whole bunch of new ideas, or thinking or in many cases common sense that you just never picked up.
The almost insurmountable problem is sorting through all the crap to find the gold. There's so many wishy-washy books about spiritual junk, god, or other nonsense. There are some great ones though, and you can glean a lot of knowledge from these books.
So, be careful in what you chose, but don't blow off an entire section of the library because of a few bad apples.
Posts: 851
Threads: 8
Joined: April 23, 2009
Reputation:
4
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
April 22, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Yeah, all the crap out there doesn't outweigh the positives of self knowledge. Certainly not all self help books will help you know more about yourself... But it's commendable...
Posts: 22
Threads: 4
Joined: April 21, 2010
Reputation:
1
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
April 23, 2010 at 12:01 am
Just don't see a psychiatrist they'll steal your money. If you get to feeling just tell yourself to nut up or shut, it always works.
The more questions we ask, the less answers we'll have.
Posts: 405
Threads: 20
Joined: September 9, 2009
Reputation:
10
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
April 23, 2010 at 4:58 am
Self Help books may be bullshit but they make great gifts for people you don't like.
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" - P.J. O'Rourke
"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Margaret Thatcher
"Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success." - Christopher Lasch
Posts: 12513
Threads: 202
Joined: January 3, 2010
Reputation:
107
RE: Self Help/Self Improvment
April 23, 2010 at 5:32 am
I feel the best thing a person can do is to get to know themselves and just WHAT motivates them......this is worth more than any amout of books / programs.
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
- I saw that on TV twice and on youtube too. Stephen fry pwnz. Stephen fry is just plain awesome 
