self-help

Here’s a departure from the usual ‘book list’ fare. Self-help books provide more than guidance; they apparently also provide a blueprint for the stages of life, as these ten books in the genre illustrate.

Once upon a time self-help books were encouraging, inspirational tomes, pep talking you toward your personal goal. Nowadays, however, self-help books are bitchy, berating things, telling you in no uncertain terms that you’re an idiot. And yet they’re selling like mad. Could it be that we like the abuse? Or are we just really idiots?

Oprah Winfrey has endorsed A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, a book by B.C.-based spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, as her latest book club selection. She has long been a fan of the author and keeps his earlier work, The Power of Now, at her bedside.

Libby Rees was nine when she wrote her first book, a self- help guide for children whose parents are separating, and now she’s written her second volume, At Sixes And Sevens, tips for making the transition from primary to secondary school. It’s part one of a three-book deal. Her spare time activities sound pretty intense, too.

Theodocia McLean's book, 'Birth of a Manuscript' is a self-help reference guide for new authors who would like a little help getting started on their manuscript layout, publishing, marketing, etc.

The reviewer lauds this book from once fat, broke and lonely author Victoria Moran as being one of the few self-help tomes that really does help. No magic here, no clever ideas, just sound advice…and pretty obvious advice by the looks of it. Maybe the answer is to write a self-help book.

Rockstar's ABC Book of Meditation & Memories is a self-help book where the reader, not some fit and tan guru, creates the steps toward becoming a better person.

Can a book be dangerous to your health? That’s what the medical professionals are saying about this one.

Anna Johnson freely admits she’s no authority on her topic, but feels her enthusiasm alone qualifies her to tell readers how to get their lives together. The single author of Three Black Skirts wonders about such things as the “weird domestic rituals” required of a wife, and only occasionally follows her own advice.