(from The Guardian
by Vanessa Thorpe)
Sir Alex Ferguson may have the coveted Christmas number one spot with the record-breaking sales of his memoir, My Autobiography. But not even celebrity memoirs are likely to match the publishing sector predicted to grow exponentially in 2014: self-help books.
Next year is set to be the one when self-help gains intellectual credibility. This Thursday will see the paperback release of a surprise British bestseller of 2013, The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz. Chosen as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, it is an extraordinary exposé of the human condition, gleaned from 25 years of listening to patients on the couch.
Grosz's publisher, Vintage, is launching a series called Shelf Help, a list of 12 titles that aim to improve our lives, "because, as we all know, one of the best ways to feel better about life is through a good book". Its list includes Jeanette Winterson's memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?; Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, a study of family life by Andrew Solomon; and Julian Barnes's Nothing to be Frightened Of, an examination of "the fear of death, God, nature, nurture and the author's childhood". The list launches in London next week with the Shelf Help Sessions, an event featuring Grosz and Winterson, chaired by the series' curator, literary reviewer Alex Clark, who is a former Booker prize judge.
The expression "self-help" emerged 155 years ago as the title of a book by the Scottish author and government reformer Samuel Smiles. With chapters on "Money – Its Use and Abuse" and "Application and Perseverance", it sold 20,000 copies in 1859. By the time of Smiles's death five decades later, it had sold 250,000 copies, spawning an industry that traditionally has a big boost in January, when even readers who claim to detest the idea of transformation are tempted into buying life-altering guides.
Although the biggest story in the publishing industry for 2014 continues to be the unstoppable rise of the ebook and digital self-publishing, self-help remains the world's bestselling genre.
Out next week, Promise Land: My Journey Through America's Self-Help Culture, by Jessica Lamb-Shapiro, celebrates this $11bn, largely American industry. "While there may be plenty of derision for today's self-help books," says Lamb-Shapiro, "they are part of an ever-expanding self-betterment market showing no signs of neglect." However, she adds, publishing statistics suggest that 80% of self-help book consumers are repeat buyers, "which could indicate they are not helping".
Under the guise of modern philosophy and psychology, the self-help market has taken over the bestseller lists. In recent months, Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants (about our perception of risk) has capitalised on the reputation of his earlier Blink (about the dangers and benefits of making snap judgments) and The Tipping Point (about how ideas go viral).
The success of academic and "vulnerability researcher" Brené Brown's Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead has seen her elevated to host her own TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network in the US.
These books are not overtly marketed as self-help, but on the sly that is what they are: they are manuals on how to live your life, and how not to. US publisher William Shinker of Gotham Books has called this "self-help masquerading as 'big-idea' books".
There is a complementary trend too: for self-help in fiction. The Novel Cure: An A to Z of Literary Remedies by Susan Elderkin and Ella Berthoud prescribes Ernest Hemingway for a headache and Daphne du Maurier for low self-esteem. This guide grew out of the London-based School of Life's bibliotherapy course, a session with a cross between a librarian and a therapist who compiles "an inspirational reading prescription that's tailor-made for you". Berthoud and Elderkin describe fiction as "the purest and best form of bibliotherapy".
The self-help industry shows no sign of imploding, though some literary reviewers would like it to. New York magazine's Kathryn Schulz bemoaned the inherent paradoxes of the genre: "In the 1,600 years since Augustine left behind selfhood for sainthood, we've made very little empirical progress towards understanding our own inner workings. We have, however, developed an $11bn industry dedicated to telling us how to improve our lives. Put those two facts together and you get a vexing question: can self-help work if we have no idea how a self works?"
TRANSFORMING TITLES
Grow up
Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown: "If you have your own home but no idea how to cook or clean, it's OK. It doesn't have to be this way." An extraordinary insight into the lives of twenty- and thirty-somethings who seem to think someone else will always pick up after them.
Look on the bright side
The Gift of Adversity: The Unexpected Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks and Imperfections by Norman E Rosenthal. Overall message: healthy habits overcome most adversity.
Pay attention to your attention
Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman. Attention is "a little-noticed and underrated mental asset", says the emotional intelligence guru. Includes "the recipe for self-control".
Be nice to people
Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect by Matthew D Lieberman. You know all the business about 10,000 hours and greatness? Well, we've all spent 10,000 hours learning to make sense of people and groups by the time we are 10. Counterintuitive takeaway: embrace social distractions at work.
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