I’m a fan of some self-help books. However, a major aspect that this article misses is that self-help is not a purely mental & cognitive activity. In my experie

I’m a fan of some self-help books. However, a major aspect that this article misses is that self-help is not a purely mental & cognitive activity. In my experience, the best books are pathways to action - they are like recipe cookbooks, where you actually have to try out the thing in order to experience a change. Neurosurgeons don’t get their wisdom by reading - they practice, watch other people, assist, perform, and train. They learn by training. Self-help is the same. Evaluating self-help books by what we understood by reading it is like trying to feel full and satiated by reading a cookbook of recipes. The cookbook and self-help book is there to be acted on.