Any book can be a self-help book, depending on how it’s read. Political pamphlets, epic poems, and contemporary novels can all offer insight into how to live—or how not to. But the self-help genre is ...

Draw boundaries. Protect your peace. Worry less about pleasing others. The prevailing (and best-selling) wisdom of the day encourages an inward turn. By Emma Goldberg There’s a certain flavor of ...

Heaven helps those who help themselves.” So opens Samuel Smiles’ 1859 book Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct—an appropriately self-published work that birthed the modern genre.

While many social critics and journalists have commented on the concerning rise of anti-intellectualism within the American public, there has been less of a focus on the noticeable popularity of ...

The Fast Company Executive Board is a private, fee-based network of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. BY Fast Company Executive ...

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A handpicked article read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. Self-help books promise transformation but deliver something more revealing: an archaeology of anxiety. The genre says more ...