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Self improvement book 2016-02-27 23:31:11 Post No. 16855432
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Self improvement book 2016-02-27 23:31:11 Post No. 16855432
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What book have you read that has helped you a lot or you think it can help a person a lot? Preferably, give a brief summary of what it teaches.
A lot of self improvement books out there are garbage so it's hard to find the quality stuff. The books that are usually good are the ones that don't peddle quick fixes and recognize the need to take the longer route to fix oneself, and the ones that cover the whys of the actions you do, like for instance why you are so lazy.
Here are some of the ones I read that I found very useful:
>Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg
It covers habit loops. How habits are formed, why they are formed and a number of examples of companies using habit psychology as a way to sell their products. It also goes into bad habits and how to change them.
This one is a must read.
>Willpower Instinct by Kelly Mcgonigal
Same as the above but for willpower, the hows and the whys. The difference to the above other than it being a different topic is that it's more practical, it's supposed to be taken as a 10 week course, with you being given willpower specific homework.
This is another must read.
>The Social Skills Guidebook by Chris Macleod
The above two books you can find for free on google, but this one is pretty underrated so you won't find anything. He does have a site called "Succeedsocially.com" where a lot of his information is free.
It covers socializing in general for socially awkward people. A guide to going from painfully awkward to a good and livable level. I wouldn't say this is a must read, but if you would rate your social skills as a 2-3/10, this one is pretty good.
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>>16855432
> How to Stop Relying on Books Made Just to Make Money from Sad Saps by Me
You're a fucking tool dude.
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>>16855450
This, try reading books about people who have just lived lives.
>Meditiations by Marcus Aurelius
It's the diary of a Roman goddamned Emperor. He's smart as shit, super humble and truly in control of himself, and he's introspective about all of it.
The first "chapter" is basically him talking about everything he has that he's thankful for. Material possessions gets a single passing mention, and no mention is made of being thankful for being the emperor. Instead, he focuses on things like having been raised by a good, morally upright family who prepared him for adulthood, being taught by smart, honorable, humble mentors, and being friends with That One Guy, he's a good man, you should get to know him
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>>16855432
>Reading a completely generalised book written by someone who doesn't know you in hopes that it will help your personal problems that a specific you yourself.
It's a ridiculous concept that relies on most people not accepting that complex problems can have simple solutions.
The most effective self help comes from finding out what you want to achieve in life, getting out of your comfort zone to achieve it, and keeping good company.
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>>16855450
Yeah, you're right Anon. What better way to tackle your problems than to face them head on with absolutely no understanding of them whatsoever. Information and an understanding is definitely not something a person needs to be able to effectively tackle certain problems.
You're probably the type of faggot that tells depressed people to "just be happy" or people with shit social skills to "jst be urself xD". Also, nobody here is advocating quick fixes or shitty garbage motivational books you absolute tard, learn to comprehend words.
>>16855489
Good suggestion Anon.
I've read Meditations as well as some other Stoic literature and I've definitely been integrating a lot of the principles into my life.
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>>16855514
>The most effective self help comes from finding out what you want to achieve in life, getting out of your comfort zone to achieve it, and keeping good company.
Thank you for the simple approach to a complex problem. Do you have any self awareness at all?
Also, having a general idea of what you're dealing with even if it isn't very specific is far more useful than having nothing at all.
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>>16855489
damn. this reads good
thanks m8, any more suggestions?
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>>16855540
To add to this, I specifically said things that explain the hows and whys, the things that give you an understanding.
These types of books give you the knowledge to be able to find the way to fix your own specific problems tailored to your own self.
There are books that put you on a very specific path, but none of those books are the ones I've just listed.
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>>16855541
This is just a general list, it's not about self-help, it's about the message they convey about people and the world
>The Inner Ring by C.S. Lewis
A lecture Lewis gave at a college. Subject is the unhealthy desire to be part of an exclusive group, especially one that is exclusive for the sake of it, as opposed to having to be out of necessity (like a musical quartet only having room for 4 musicians). It's unhealthy because it's like trying to get to the core of an onion - once you get inside the group, you realize the only thing they had going for them was the relative mystery of not being one of them, so you try to go deeper, but it's just layers all the way down, you'll never be satisfied.
>Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
If you focus on only what could have been, you'll be stuck in the past and you'll never see what could be now. Like Saito in Inception, you'll suddenly find yourself an old man, full of regret, waiting to die alone.
>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The best piece of Arthurian literature I've ever read. A man desperate to live succumbs to temptation, and isn't afraid to admit he chose wrong. Also, the most widely-used version of this text was edited by JRR Tolkien himself (he was THE medieval literature scholar before he was an author).
>1984 by George Orwell
If you don't know why you should read this, you're already caught in the trap. More and more these days, it seems like it's been used as a manual instead of a cautionary tale.
>Neuromancer by William Gibson
Basically the beginning of cyberpunk as a concept, especially the "high tech, low life" aspect. Corporations rule everything, governments are a joke.
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>>16855601
last one
>Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
A really good war novel about children being raised by the state to kill aliens, but all is not what it seems. If you don't like to read about someone who constantly suffers, this isn't the book for you. Also a few weirdly accurate predictions about how future tech would affect society, including the commercial internet itself in the same year NSFNET came into being, and the phenomenons we know as internet forums, flaming/trolling and sock puppets.
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>>16855601
>>16855608
Thanks for the suggestions Anon.
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