self help books: are they worth it?

We’ve all had someone tell us to read Atomic Habits by James Clear or Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. In fact, I even have an assignment in one of my courses to read a “personal development” book and complete a presentation on the most important takeaways; that’s how important these self help books have become to our society.

However, I’ve always been skeptical of reading these kinds of things because whenever I do, it ends up being the most condescending piece of writing I have ever read OR is entirely useless as it only covers self-explanatory topics and tips (among other reasons).

I know this is definitely a more controversial take on self help books, but just hear me out. I promise I have some good reasons (or at least reasons that sound good to me) so let me help you understand my side of the argument!

• Like I mentioned, the language in self help books is often condescending. Many of the authors in the books I’ve read act like their readers know absolutely nothing and that they have to explain every little word, no matter how common. I entirely understand needing to explain some of the researched topics, such as the science behind anxiety or how humans have evolved, but I do not need someone to tell me what the word “evolution” means.

• The concepts covered are overused, self-explanatory, or entirely baseless. Obviously this doesn’t apply to every book or to every reader, but a lot of the ones I’ve read don’t teach me anything new; they just repeat the same thing I’ve heard from others and it’s often not even helpful. On the other hand, if the book does talk about a new topic (which gets me really hopeful), the advice/concept sounds like it’s being written by someone that has never experienced the condition they’re giving advice for.

• You can get the same information from another source in a shorter amount of time. Honestly, you could watch a Ted Talk (even if it’s by the author of the book) or read an article to understand the overarching topics of the self help book. Of course, the book probably has more detail, but if you’re not looking to be bombarded with a bunch of scientific concepts, the video/article would likely do you more good than reading the entire book.

Of course, there are going to be exceptions to all of these arguments since you can’t categorize ALL self help books as one thing or another—always take what you hear/read with a grain of salt!

If personal development books work for you, that’s amazing! I’m not trying to tell you that you’re wrong for liking them or that they won’t work for anyone. I tried not to give any examples because I didn’t want to discourage anyone from trying them or discount anyone’s opinion if they enjoyed the book. All I’m here to do is tell you that they’re not for everyone, so always make sure to do your research and just try it out!

Yours Truly,

Dear Youth Global,

Kalpita Gangwar