What's your opinian obout reading self improvement books?

[Yukiora 24]

I think there a ford but that's only what I've heard. :3

[prarich]

I used to read them a lot as a youngster especially Dale Carnegie's books on self help and motivation. They had some pretty good quotes and methods one could implement in life. But as an adult I outgrew them after realizing the best way to self help is learning and acting on experiences. But such books are always a refresher.

[Amheiser]

I think self help books are good depending on the person. I personally like to read them. When I come across a problem and I think getting more input would help, then I go looking for something to read on that subject. For instance, I had inherited a lot of stuff from my family and various sources and everybody said I had too much stuff and I knew that I had too much stuff but I wanted to responsibly get rid of it and not just dump it on the curb, so I got ideas from the things I read and worked on improving my situation. The books helped me in that case because it made me feel better about myself to know that I was on the right track in getting rid of stuff but there was just a lot of stuff to get rid of and it was going to take some time. I think that in some cases, it helps to get ideas from other peoples' experiences so you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you have a problem. Usually somebody else has had the same problem at one point or another. And I always get a few different books or readings on the subject so I don't just get one person's perspective and then I can take what helps me in my particular case and use it.

[Winter]

I think self help books can be a great resource. Like anything else, some are better than others, and I think it's extremely important for readers to be discerning in using them. Any change people want to make in their lives/selves has to come from within. All any outside source can do is help them figure out how to do that, so I don't see why a book couldn't serve that purpose. A book may have something in it that the reader needed to help work out that puzzle in his/her head. It's not magic, though, and making changes to some aspect of life that a person is struggling with enough to seek help is never easy to resolve. It takes a lot of work, and often a lot of time. For that reason, I don't think it's fair to expect a book to solve all of someone's problem, and to automatically dismiss it if it doesn't. All a self help book can be is one tool among others for someone to use on their personal journey.
That's my non-professional opinion, in any case.

[Intellijock]

I have read very few self-improvement books. Unless the book is teaching a particular skill, it seems like a waste of time and money to read a book that tells you how to be a good and/or useful person. It has always seemed to me to be intellectual masturbation.

[Alexandra Bayer]

It really depends on the person. They help some people, but not others.

[LittleWilma]

I'm not that into self-help books. About fifteen years ago, I bought one on procrastination. I still haven't gotten around to reading it.

[Fran]

I'm not that into self-help books. About fifteen years ago, I bought one on procrastination. I still haven't gotten around to reading it.

They make me wonder - if they work why are there so many of them? But I guess they work quite well for the bank balance of the authors! I know, I'm a cynic

[stoppoppingtheP]

I never read those books. Not that I think that they are useless, but I think that every person is unique, and that some aspects of the book will apply to a wide variety of people and some will apply to to only a few. If I read those books I will only scan through it and maybe stop if I find an interesting tidbit of information to read.

[SidnayC]

I know of people who have greatly benefited from reading such books... But for some reason the few I have read barely scratch the surface of improving my inner self.

[Divya Tamilselvan]

Yes, self-improvement books can be really effective. Every good book read at right time will be useful.

[Rachael S 1]

I have never been a self-improvement book fan. It just has never interested me and I cannot get through the books. However, I applaud those who enjoy them.

[Areeba M]

I have never read any, but my sister is a huge reader of self improvement books.
So I do plan on reading one someday.

[Alexandur Gicov]

For a long time, I liked the concept of self-help books, but now, I think that they help the author more than the readers. Of course, there are always positives that you can learn from and apply if you follow the same events and can apply them to your environment. But this is my opinion!

[Tori_J]

Most of these books are cliched. They only reiterate things that one already knows. I am not a big fan.