<story><title>How to Read Self-Help</title><url>https://tjcx.me/posts/more-from-self-help/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jordanpg</author><text>My main objection to these types of books is how overly verbose they tend to be.  With a few exceptions, this category of book is built around a nucleus of few possibly valuable pearls of &lt;i&gt;wisdom&lt;/i&gt;, and then 300 pages of filler is added.  Usually lots of anecdotes (&amp;quot;Let me tell you about my friend Alice...&amp;quot;), checklists, and needless exposition.&lt;p&gt;If this really is &lt;i&gt;wisdom&lt;/i&gt;, it does not follow that it takes 300 pages to communicate.  But I suppose the propounders have to make a living somehow.&lt;p&gt;To be honest, I don&amp;#x27;t object to buying the book if it&amp;#x27;s really got some good wisdom, but I would be more likely to if they shipped with some sort of executive summary.</text></comment>
<story><title>How to Read Self-Help</title><url>https://tjcx.me/posts/more-from-self-help/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>brenschluss</author><text>I’m a fan of some self-help books. However, a major aspect that this article misses is that self-help is not a purely mental &amp;amp; cognitive activity. In my experience, the best books are pathways to action - they are like recipe cookbooks, where you actually have to try out the thing in order to experience a change. Neurosurgeons don’t get their wisdom by reading - they practice, watch other people, assist, perform, and train. They learn by training. Self-help is the same.&lt;p&gt;Evaluating self-help books by what we understood by reading it is like trying to feel full and satiated by reading a cookbook of recipes. The cookbook and self-help book is there to be acted on.</text></comment>