The author's claim to "a kind of nervous contrarianism" in searching for new directions for growth is interesting. I think it highlights the limits of arbitrary

The author's claim to "a kind of nervous contrarianism" in searching for new directions for growth is interesting. I think it highlights the limits of arbitrary aesthetics as detached from the more concrete needs of life. The themes in Hess's the Glass Bead Game come to mind - Hess builds a beautiful ivory tower of pure ideas, detached from reality, and then tears it down before your eyes, bringing the focus back to people and their need for growth. I like the idea (can't remember where I saw it) for a service that helps connect readers with books that would help them with their evolution. I think this idea is powerful and can take the idea of self-help to a much deeper level that encompasses spirituality and psychological well-being rather than just fads and fashion trends by helping people find novels that aren't straightforwardly "about" an area of life but happen to address it deeply in their own way.