Business | Investment
Helping yourself with a book
Are you happy, sad or other? If you're happy, a book may help you maintain your emotional status, if you're sad, what about a book to help you live with suffering or overcome it? But if you feel 'other', you certainly need a book, a DVD workshop or a seminar to tell you how to develop your ability to know whether you're happy or sad.
- By Rania Oteify, Features Editor
- Published: 00:00 April 14, 2007
Are you happy, sad or other? If you're happy, a book may help you maintain your emotional status, if you're sad, what about a book to help you live with suffering or overcome it? But if you feel 'other', you certainly need a book, a DVD workshop or a seminar to tell you how to develop your ability to know whether you're happy or sad.
Yes, this is how the self-help industry works. They provide solutions for problems which they try their best to make yours. But do you know anyone who has not read or acquired one or two books at least of those ready-made solutions?
Those who are in trouble, suffering a loss, or managing a personal or a professional failure may be the most susceptible to the lure of self-help books to fill the vacuum of just having someone who addresses their problems without having to put up with pity or any associated burdens of sharing personal problems with others.
But for many of us who are not looking for an emotional straw to grasp, we need to think of where we're putting our money.
Most of the time, self-help books offer only a non-constructive superficial way of viewing life, they may be a waste of time and money.
Why? Because the purpose of most of these books is not to solve your problems, but to create a business for the industry.
Number of signs
There are a number of signs to find out whether a book is worth your money or not. First, loose descriptions are meant to trap as many readers as possible,
Take for example : Are you looking for a change in your life? Need to make more money? Or looking for Mr/Mrs Right? If your answers are yes, yes and yes, this does not mean the book is going to help you, it only says that you've been hooked to buy a book.
So what you need to do is to check whether the book is selling you problems or solutions.
Another trick that always works with impulsive shoppers is to take your time. Check online reviews and make sure you're not looking at the author's website. Check for similar books and find out which one responds to your needs. In many cases you may find web resources more useful and providing a wider view than one book focusing on one subject, even though they don't offer the luxury of lying down on the couch and turning the pages.
Avoid books promising drastic changes in a short time. Remember, becoming a millionaire takes a little longer than five days for most people.
Try to find out about the author and his/her background. If it is limited to personal experience, perhaps you can get plenty of this from your friends and family. But if their advice is based on years of academic research, professional experience and any sort of established theory - whether you agree with or not - there is something there to pay for.
Finally, remember that for many years people lived with the belief that wisdom didn't come in a capsule. So if your money has to be spent in a bookshop what about reading about history, politics, computers, or even fiction. An engagement of your mind or enhancement of your knowledge may give you a new insight that is more lasting and fulfilling.
Share this article
More from Investment
More from Business
Popular in Business
-
XPRESS
Way to go this DSF
A fun-filled route to guide you to all the happening dos in town
Business Editor's choice
-
Hamdan opens interior design expo
Index 2009 will feature 1,000 exhibitors from 47 nations
-
Marina Residence handovers begin
Despite talk of oversupply, Palm Jumeirah's latest apartments come online.
-
Travel insurance offers peace of mind
The wisest thing to do is to take out travel insurance before you leave.
