Books that are basically 'How to be amazing like me by Me'

[shoulders]

They are all detonation worthy.

'Business For Punks' by James Watt.

Fucking hell.

[olliebean]

"How to be amazing like me by Me.

Chapter 1: Start by having all the same advantages and lucky breaks that I had."

That sort of thing?

[non capisco]

I walk past a Waterstones to get to work and see 'How To Be Right' by James O'Brien in the window and say "Fuck off" out loud every day.

[imitationleather]

A few years back I was very depressed and in a moment of weakness I started reading a book by someone who had apparently been in a similar situation and managed to get out of it.

The advice was basically have a good job you enjoy doing that pays well, go on holiday a lot, have a strong relationship and live in a house you own in the south-east. Pah! If I had those things I wouldn't have been depressed in the first place, dickhead!

It was by Matt "Fucking" Haig.

[olliebean]

It's right up there with the "how to save money" genre of TV that goes something like, "realise that you don't need two cars and two holidays a year, and you don't need to eat take-out every night."

[Pink Gregory]

They are all detonation worthy.

'Business For Punks' by James Watt.

Fucking hell.

In which the author quotes from Winston Churchill, naming him as a 'world saving punk'

Reader, I retched audibly.

[imitationleather]

In which the author quotes from Winston Churchill, naming him as a 'world saving punk'

Reader, I retched audibly.

What were you doing reading his book in the first place, though? I've gotta hear this!

[Pink Gregory]

What were you doing reading his book in the first place, though? I've gotta hear this!

Oh god I didn't, heard it on a podcast, I'm not the hate reading type.

[phosphoresce]

Sorry to go rather highbrow, but the classic has to be Why Am I So Wise, by one Friedrich Nietzsche. Featuring chapter titles like "Why I Write Such Excellent Books" and "Why I Am So Clever"!

I suppose throughout his works there's a playful interplay between this insane arrogance, and a sly awareness of just that quality.

[Blue Jam]

They are all detonation worthy.

'Business For Punks' by James Watt.

Fucking hell.

Subtitle: "Break All The Rules The BrewDog Way".

Hmmm, that aged well.

[Catalogue of ills]

Subtitle: "Break All The Rules The BrewDog Way".

Hmmm, that aged well.

"Be more pirate - make any sensorily impaired staff walk the plank into shark infested water. They are such a burden."

[bgmnts]

Unsure if it's in the exact category but the fact a book can be released called The 12 Rules of Life in all seriousness by a mega crybaby benzo addict who almost died from a sip of apple cider is really, really funny to me.

[Icehaven]

I was unlikely to ever open a book by Caitlin Moran anyway but the fact she called it "How To Be A Woman" made me want to shove it into her ever open gob.

[willbo]

I don't mind self help books. If they're written in an inspirational, upbeat way and can inspire someone to jump up and get out and do something new, I think its ok, even if its a fluff celeb one. I think sometimes people can find inspiration in all sorts of places, people I know use their favourite youtuber or tv star as "get up and go" energy, as long as it chimes with you and makes you happy. Its cheaper than a life coach or therapist and no worse than reading a trashy pulp cop novel or whatever. Like those Ruby Wax or Bear Grylls books or the ones by TV fitness folks. That's not getting into the can of worms of political ones like JP though.

[DoesNotFollow]

Unsure if it's in the exact category but the fact a book can be released called The 12 Rules of Life in all seriousness by a mega crybaby benzo addict who almost died from a sip of apple cider is really, really funny to me.

1. Avoid cider

[thenoise]

1. Avoid cider

I looked them up online and they do seem like he came up with them on the spot. Really banal shit.

The 'tidy your room' thing always reminds me of the 'get out of bed bit in Brass Eye.

[Ray Travez]

I don't mind self help books. If they're written in an inspirational, upbeat way...

for years I had this idea to write a self-help book by gathering a pile of different titles and shredding them, picking out lines; cut-up technique basically. And I couldn't do it. So then I tried to write a shit cash-in copy of The Secret or something. And what is obvious now is that almost all self-help books are shit, almost all self-help books are the same; and it's not the message, it's the marketing that counts. Rhonda Byrne worked for a tv network, and I guess had an 'in' with Oprah, an appearance on whose show is how she got all the initial publicity for her facile and mildly dangerous book.

I don't know what the fashion is now. Briefly, everyone was writing self-help books called something like, 'the magical power of couldn't give a f*ck,' (which is ever so naughty.) Then there's the Hygge stuff before that, and all the mindfulness and books of calm, repackaged weak-ass buddhist philosophy for low-commitment westerners. I still sell The Secret fairly regularly on ebay- pic it up for a quid and sell for eight (inc postage).

My favourite self-help book is Solitary Fitness by Charles Bronson. I think he's funny. It's probably a bit, "how to be amazing like me by Me;" at one point he boasts about being able to throw a fridge up a flight of stairs; I think he also boasts about the chaos created by one of the prison riots he started. Now that's motivational!

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Tony Robbins springs to mind.

[pigamus]

I think Baldrick's entitled to boast a bit tbf

[willbo]

for years I had this idea to write a self-help book by gathering a pile of different titles and shredding them, picking out lines; cut-up technique basically. And I couldn't do it. So then I tried to write a shit cash-in copy of The Secret or something. And what is obvious now is that almost all self-help books are shit, almost all self-help books are the same; and it's not the message, it's the marketing that counts. Rhonda Byrne worked for a tv network, and I guess had an 'in' with Oprah, an appearance on whose show is how she got all the initial publicity for her facile and mildly dangerous book.

I don't know what the fashion is now. Briefly, everyone was writing self-help books called something like, 'the magical power of couldn't give a f*ck,' (which is ever so naughty.) Then there's the Hygge stuff before that, and all the mindfulness and books of calm, repackaged weak-ass buddhist philosophy for low-commitment westerners. I still sell The Secret fairly regularly on ebay- pic it up for a quid and sell for eight (inc postage).

My favourite self-help book is Solitary Fitness by Charles Bronson. I think he's funny. It's probably a bit, "how to be amazing like me by Me;" at one point he boasts about being able to throw a fridge up a flight of stairs; I think he also boasts about the chaos created by one of the prison riots he started. Now that's motivational!

It's such a vaguely defined genre though. It ranges from positive thinking, "life coach", self hypnosis, stuff, to actual workbooks by therapists in practises like CBT, DBT, anxiety/trauma work, to Western Buddhist type stuff, to business mindset type stuff for the corporate world, new age/chakras/reiki/secret stuff, to funny motivational celebs like Bear Grylls or various TV SAS guys, to actual sports psychology authors. Bronson's sounds amazing though.

[Icehaven]

My favourite self-help book is Solitary Fitness by Charles Bronson. I think he's funny. It's probably a bit, "how to be amazing like me by Me;" at one point he boasts about being able to throw a fridge up a flight of stairs; I think he also boasts about the chaos created by one of the prison riots he started. Now that's motivational!

Haven't actually read it myself but his books are still extremely popular with prisoners, as are exercise/workout books, so this one nicely covers both. Every time I see the title though in my head I sing it to the tune of that "Solitary brotherrrr..." bit in Killer by Seal.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

It's right up there with the "how to save money" genre of TV that goes something like, "realise that you don't need two cars and two holidays a year, and you don't need to eat take-out every night."

Young people would be able to afford a mortgage if they weren't spending all their money on Netflix

Unsure if it's in the exact category but the fact a book can be released called The 12 Rules of Life in all seriousness by a mega crybaby benzo addict who almost died from a sip of apple cider is really, really funny to me.

and then he wrote a sequel

[Povidone]

I don't believe it is possible to sell true self help/self improvement, it will always be a grift, even if done with the best of intentions.

[bushwick]

Marcus Aurelius wrote some thought-provoking and helpful stuff but I can never get fully into stoic philosophy coz "PS: THIS IS WRITTEN BY A POWERFUL MAN FROM A DEEPLY UNEQUAL SOCIETY WHO OWNED SLAVES, BTW,  YMMV" has always felt like a bit of a caveat. Like those "HOW TO SAVE AND BUY YOUR FIRST HOUSE IN YOUR 20s" articles where the person always has a trust fund and has gone to public school etc etc

[bushwick]

I don't believe it is possible to sell true self help/self improvement, it will always be a grift, even if done with the best of intentions.

fully agree with this, which is why subscription models for headspace type apps should be banned IMO. hooking in vulnerable folks - should just charge like £20 or £30 one off fee for them shits, same as buying a couple of books that are yours to keep and don't "need" updating. don't mind therapists asking for patreon supporters while providing good free content on youtube, though - that seems the most moral way of doing it.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Oh god I didn't, heard it on a podcast, I'm not the hate reading type.

What podcast? I quite like some of the hate-read stuff the Chapo lads get up to.

[Sebastian Cobb]

This sort of thing? I've not read it obviously.

[Sebastian Cobb]

fully agree with this, which is why subscription models for headspace type apps should be banned IMO. hooking in vulnerable folks - should just charge like £20 or £30 one off fee for them shits, same as buying a couple of books that are yours to keep and don't "need" updating. don't mind therapists asking for patreon supporters while providing good free content on youtube, though - that seems the most moral way of doing it.

Insight Timer is like Headspace but with lots of free (and some paid) stuff, it's a bit overwhealming really.

But then before it was all online didn't people pay people for meditation classes in a very similar way anyway?

[Pink Gregory]

What podcast? I quite like some of the hate-read stuff the Chapo lads get up to.

Unfortunately it's on a Patron premium ep. of Trashfuture, although if you look back in their archives they also do a hate-reading series with Felix Biederman

https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-intelligence-40-ft-felix-biederman/

[Sebastian Cobb]

Unfortunately it's on a Patron premium ep. of Trashfuture, although if you look back in their archives they also do a hate-reading series with Felix Biederman

https://trashfuturepodcast.podbean.com/e/unlocked-intelligence-40-ft-felix-biederman/

Ahh right, TF is something I've been meaning to try anyway as it happens! Looks like a good starting point. Thanks!