Why does /lit/ hate self-help books?

1. Reading them isn't patrishun.

2. Admitting you aren't infinitely smart philsophical intellectual and need help isn't patrishun.

3. Most of them are trash.

>>9223654
I don't hate self-help books, I hate the people that read them

>>9223672
It's spellt "patrician," anon.

>>9223654
Because they don't actually help?

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>>9223677

>>9223722
that sperg included

because /lit/ desperatlly needs the kind of help that is beyond even the power of a self help book, nay the power of any words in any order in any language to give them.

I hate insincerity and platitudes. This means I hate (most) american culture. Self-help bullshit is the worst of american culture.

Snake oil scams for people with low willpower. But they work because it's like a placebo.

because they're invalidating as fuck and their authors are massive cunts 100% of the time.

also >>9223677

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if you want a real self-help book

So basically, nobody has a real argument. /lit/ just doesn't like self-help because they don't like it.

>>9224159
It's because they're a handful of aphorisms stretched out into novel-length books to sell copies and make people feel better for a few days before they leave the book on their shelf forever.

I've been recommended a few by friends, it's all very basic stuff like setting goals, having a good schedule, being disciplined, etc. I mean, fuck, guys 2500 years ago were coming out with more advanced life advice than this. Nobody has to spend $15 to hear the basics of being an adult. If someone wants meaning, they should read up on some basic philosophy or religion. if they've got a serious problem they should look into therapy.

most of them suck

most of anything sucks, but other things dont inspire cults like self help books do

>>9224044

+50000

>>9224044
That was great.
There are some good self-help books. Its just that there are also fuck ton of shit ones that just state the obvious or some wishy washy bullshit and some of the authors just want a easy cash grab with those books.
Still though its dumb to think that by definition the whole genre is bullshit just because there are some bad apples. Its possible to actually learn something from them.

>>9224294
Any recommendations?

>>9223654
Trashy, deceiving smut written by con artists
Books that satirize self-help are usually really good

>>9223698
he knows. he mocks the concept of "patrician" by writing it incorrectly, yet with the same pronounciation.
but you knew that and now I am the fool.

>>9225267
>I'm autistic

Okay, okay. We get it.

>>9223654
Because they're not literature

>>9225342
what's a good self help book for autism?

They are exploiting troubled and impressionable people and rarely offer psychologically sound advice.

DUDE JUST DO THESE EXERCISES AND STOP BEING A LAZY A PIECE OF SHIT.

heres some self-help get a job you lazy bum

>implying it's self-help if you read a book someone else wrote

>>9225817
haha

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>>9223654
Because I couldn't help myself.

Because 4chan is full of egotistical and selfish people who think that developing social skills and bettering oneself is for “plebs”, especially if it's mass marketed to normies in easily digestible writing. In order to be patrician you have to only read philosophy or kill yourself you autist/faggot/various other insult

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They give you something that is impossible for you to receive, because it can only realize itself if you take it.

>>9225842
You gotta admit, though, that the quality of writing has gone down substantially in the past 100 years. I don't think there is any well-written, profound contemporary literature. The wisdom of intellectuals from a better age is infinitely more valuable than that of today's greedy businessmen.

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Some down to earth self-help workbook that works with your anxiety. No need for cheap phrases or platitudes, it's just what honestly happens with depressed and anxious people.

>>9225868
>Over 6 gajillion in print.
>A """"proven program"""" from """"""""""leading scientists"""""""""""'''
>Mindfulness meme
>Cheesy subtitle
>Eastern authors, probably shilling their shit "philosophy"

Looks like a good book.

>>9225882
>judging a book by its cover

/lit/ is now at the lowest level of reading

>>9225882
Certainly it has a cheesy appearance.

>Eastern authors, probably shilling their shit "philosophy"
Eastern thought and meditation runs a long line of tradition which is at the least really valuable; plus, techniques are exactly what help anxious people, not reading some book to feel better about themselves.

>Mindfulness meme
I don't know what you are talking about. There's some serious research on the results of this therapy (see https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124111354.htm for example), and it is clearly a strategy to deal with anxiety, not THE WAY to lessen it. If you want other more "rigid" strategies, you can try Schultz' Autogenic Training or Metacognitive Therapy.

The reason I mentioned it is because it overlaps between therapy and self-help.

you gotta read the good shit not the pleb shit, there are some amazing "self-help" books out there, some totally blew my mind desu, but i'm not gonna post 'em cuz i want to keep it to myself lol

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>>9225469

>>9224044
The great story of the 6million never gets old.

>>9226695
Wow, it's like you willfully let the point of the book fly over your head.

Either that or your autism hinders you from reading anything with the word "holocaust" on it.

>>9227066
come on bro, save the holocaust industry's greatest hits for reddit

A moneymaking scam that could be ousted by people simply reading actual philosophy

Also they all say the same fucking thing

The replies in this thread is proof of how dense /lit/ can be

>>9223654

Because 99% of them are pseudo-scientific trash that you will not only waste your time reading, but your intelligence and understanding of the world will deteriorate.
The OP pic is a perfect example. Those habits are not what made those people successful. It was mostly luck, either in genetics or of the more general kind. If you check the habits of highly ineffective people, remarkably, you'll find an overlap.

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95% of self help books don't get into the psychology of why you act in ways that make you think you need help. they just expect you to be suddenly able to change your approach to life, but after a month or so, you're back to where you started. books like psycho cybernetics, nuero linguistic programming and six pillars of self esteem are good books to start with that help you understand how you became to be the person you are

>>9224194

summed it up well - see image

>>9227181
That's probably the biggest mark against them: they promise success for your career and finances, which can actually be dangerous for a depressed person. Instead of saying "Try this out for a bit, if it helps, here's what to do next", they say "GUARANTEE LIFE SUCCESS. NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER. TOP 10 WAYS TO GET AHEAD"

99% of people I meet who read self-help books never actually help themselves.

It's all well and good obtaining knowledge etc. but not dealing with them in action only leads to these books becoming another form of entertainment.

>>9223654
Self-help books don't help. When they do, they're called philosophy.

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>>9223654
I don't hate GOOD self help books. I hate the inability of middle managers to distinguish between which ones are good, and which ones are a load of shit.

I also hate the tendency of middle managers to substitute proposals for research and development and refinement of methodology with self-help-book-club meetings.

Come to think of it, I just hate middle managers.

Inevitably you get into the loop where you're reading self-help and that's all you do. Dan Pena was on Rogan's podcast the other day, basically summed it down to 'pulling the trigger'.
Self-help books will make you feel like you can do it, but you won't, because the main problem is your personality which formed over many years.
However, what does work and nearly every successful person I researched has done this and I've had success with it myself is journaling.

I figure it's because the truth is that most of the shit flying around your head isn't reality, it's just something you learned back when you were 6 or so and you're applying it to a completely different situation where it has no basis being. Putting your beliefs on a page and determining what you really think and what your emotions on the subject actually allows for a greater level of clarity and reflection.
When I was younger it was impossible for me to journal and sort my thoughts, it took many years to start and to make it a habit. And that was only because of difficult life experiences that forced me to reconsider what I was doing.
I think self-help can work, if you believe in it. The problem is that if you're seeking self-help, you're likely the type of person who wants someone to guide you along instead of someone who is actually going to do things that work.

>>9223654

I used to before I read some. They're pretty good when you're stuck in a rut and not even your own super autism can get you through.

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>>9224044
>holohoax

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It's only ok when the romans do it

>>9225469
my diary desu

Most people say self help books are just baloney, but it seems like successful people like self help books. How to Win Friends Etc is often recommended by very successful people.

>>9228222
"Successful" people are usually pretty retarded, though. I would take their words with a pound of salt.

This thread reeks of high school.

I hate to tell it to you kids, but some day you'll have to get a job outside of academia. And then you won't shit on Dale Carnegie and Steven Covey so much, because you'll discover that the social skills you learned pwning noobs in CSGO and trolling redditors on /his/ aren't actually applicable.

But go ahead, tell me all about the social wisdom you got from reading Aristotle. I'll be waiting right here.

>>9223654
most of them are bullshit

>>9228340
Lol, you can read them both you sillybilly.

>>9223654
most are get rich quick schemes in book form

>>9223654
Because we don't want to be helped. We enjoy our stewing.

>>9228340
This.

>>9228381
what the fuck kind of self-help books are you reading? i can't think of any self-help book that is a "get rich quick scheme". you know what's a fucking get rich quick scheme? thinking you're going to be a famous author.

>>9228340
Hey don't know Ari his rhetoric was actually decent, just not directly applicable unless you're an actor or politician. He makes good points about arguments and assertiveness though.

>>9227932
There's literally self-help books that tell you to write down your thoughts so you can see your brain's negative bias.

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Start sleeping on park benches.

>>9223654
Certain financial ones have been extremely helpful to me.

true self-help is shit though

>>9225891
>>9225882
KO

>>9223654
Because we are helpless.

>>9228202
Yeah, what's up with this shit? Why do people claim that this is "THE" self-help book?

>>9229846
that shit is faggy as fuck, anyone who reads that is a fucking pleb

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goddmanit lit why am I such a fucking pleb

why is there no Patrician to mold me

>>9224044
My psychologist recommended this to me, is it as good a read as other Holocaust works like Night and Maus?

A lot of them don't come up with anything new and are full of the most basic tips and suggestions most of which you can easily figure out all by yourself.
They also tend to be useless for people who have serious problems that go deeper.

Robert Greene's books are actually worthwhile and have quotes from otherl, more patrician books if he's too well-known for you.

>>9232064
Yeah, no.

>>9232109
>I haven't read it but it's popular and heavily associated with hip-hop so it must be bad.
Again, even if you don't like thr content itself every page has a quote from another, more "patrician" work (though not strictly in the vein of self-help), unless Lord Byron, Machiavelli, Sun Tzu and Sappho are considered plebian these days.

>>9224314
Not that anon, but:
Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness
Wherever You're Going, There You Are by Henry Kabbat-Zinn
anything by Mark Manson

>>9232128
>every page has a quote from another, more "patrician" work
So what? Self-help gurus quote that shit all the time to make themselves look more credible.

And no, I'm not going to read a shit self-help book because I have better things to do with my time.

>>9230762
its pretty good, its different from night and maus - more analytical, less literary.

its short, you can read it in a couple of days

>>9232139
You must have not read that many self-help books if you think they often quote or cite the likes of those. Rarely any of them do. Most self-help books refer to studies.

You haven't even read the book, apparently haven't even glimpsed it, given that what I'm talking about is on nearly every page with content (and a section of its own, away from the main writing on each page) and say it's shitty? Why even bother discussing it if you're not willing to give it that little of a chance?