What are the best psychology/self-help books?

Psychology is a pet interest of mine and I've read a ton of books about it. Here is my top five list of psychology-psychologically oriented books.

5)I'm OK, You're OK
4.)Creativity, Rollo May
3.)The Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das
2.)Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, Richard Carlson
1.)Simple Living, Elaine St. Jean

What are your favorite non-fiction psychology/pschylogically oriented books? Read any of the above mentioned?

I have a A level in psychology!

Its a really interesting course to do!

I have read Dont sweat the small stuff!
Which i enjoyed!

I have two books that have really been useful:

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives-Richard Swenson
Margin is a very practical book, full of wisdom and insight to help reduce stress

The Delicate Art of Dancing With Porcupines: Learning to Appreciate the Finer Points of Others-Bob Phillips

This one helps to explain why we are the way we are, and why my mil drives us all nuts..and why when asked "where do you want to eat?" I say, "I don't care..where do YOU want to go"

Honestly, I have a book called "When I Love Myself Enough". I read it on occasion to remind myself to chance the good things.

I'm OK, You're OK is a classic, and the early chapters do lay out a cogent program for looking at personal interactions. I concur with the recommendation.

The later chapters, however, when he applies the program to specific aspects of modern life, show old-fashioned thinking and some surprisingly stodgy moralizing. Read it with a critical eye.

Life Strategies by Dr. Phil is pretty good.

JoannaC said:

Life Strategies by Dr. Phil is pretty good.

Click to expand...

When his t.v. show just started, I bought that book for the heck of it. He does have some interesting things to write about in there. I don't know why, but it reminds me a lot of some management book or something like that. Very sensible, practical suggestions.

Probably anything that doesn't have the author smiling on the cover which reads "10 steps to a better life" or any such crap.

Life is more complex than many of these alleged psychologists make out. But as long as it's simple, like a food recipe, people buy it and believe it.

How endlessly tragic.

Morty said:

Probably anything that doesn't have the author smiling on the cover which reads "10 steps to a better life" or any such crap.

Life is more complex than many of these alleged psychologists make out. But as long as it's simple, like a food recipe, people buy it and believe it.

How endlessly tragic.

Click to expand...

You can't find a complete psychoanalytic work of a person in a book. It's for that reason alone that unless you are studying in the clouds(i.e.-theory) that most "self-help" books are written with a straight-forward, practical purpose. Now don't get me wrong, some "self-help" books are very cheesy and seem too mushy. I myself prefer theory, but there are a few books by Tony Robbins & Deepak Chopra that are worth looking at with an open mind. No one here is saying that Dr. Phil will replace Freud in the pantheon of psychological greatness in that profession, but he does have a unique way of telling people to just get over it.(did I really say that? )

Morty said:

Probably anything that doesn't have the author smiling on the cover which reads "10 steps to a better life" or any such crap.

Life is more complex than many of these alleged psychologists make out. But as long as it's simple, like a food recipe, people buy it and believe it.

How endlessly tragic.

Click to expand...

Morty, SFG
I can't help chiming in, because this has been a topic of some interest to me for quite a while now also. And I tend to agree that, in a sense, there are no "10 Steps to a Better Life,'' at least in the spirit in which that observation is offered.
In addition, though, I would like to offer two thoughts, because I firmly believe those better lives can be had.

First of all, there are problems and then there are problems. Some have relatively simple solutions like, say, learning how to do time management. Some are almost impossible for most people to solve on their own like, say, cigarette smoking, or dieting, or overcoming shyness or 'stage fright.' But in virtually all cases just reading the book is not the solution. It is the willingness to do what the book says that leads to the solution. And therein lies the rub.

Dr. Phil, being a professional, is a pretty shrewd and perceptive observer of people's problems. But, as I remember from the few times I have watched him on TV, he doesn't only dispense advice, but often enough sends people off with additional means of followup -- that he provides -- to help, or even make sure, that they actually do what he has suggested.

My second thought, for when books won't do it, it that people should look for a course or a self-help group where they will find support for their efforts. Almost all self-help requires a change in personal habits, or attitudes, or personality or even life style, and these are very difficult to accomplish on one's own. They are who we are, and most of resist changing them. We tend to believe we are fine the way we are, and we like the way we are.

So, I don't bame the books for being ineffective, nor do I blame people for not accomplishing what they set out to do. People attempting self-help are facing a very difficult task, whether they realize it or not, and if they can't do it on their own, should realize that it takes more than just reading a book to work the magic.

If I were to write a book on "How to Stop Reading," I think everyone here would immediately understand the difficulty in trying to do just that. And everyone would recognize that the difficulty was not with the book, but came from within ourselves. Just so with changing any other aspect of our personal behavior.

So, just to bring this back to topic, I would suggest that a person coming here wanting a self-help book, first find a book on the relvant topic and then browse it carefully to see what it suggests. And then ask themselves, brutally honestly and realistically, whether they are willing to commit themselves to doing what it asks. If yes, then buy the book and give it a shot. If no, then look for a course or some self-help group for a better chance of success. (And some are near 100% effective.) Or do both.

But in all cases I would strongly suggest not giving up. I firmly believe the personal tragedy rests in not trying.

Peder

I see what you mean, its a lot easier to read all those books on 'how to write a book" than to actually sharpen a pencil and write..diet books are great to read, but require effort to put into practice..think I'll find a different book! I want one I can put under my pillow, and when I wake up, I've lost 5 lbs..do that enough, and with no more effort than that, I'm down to my ideal weight and life can be grand. Wait, I should write a book about it, then I can get rich while I lose weight in my sleep

abecedarian said:

I see what you mean, its a lot easier to read all those books on 'how to write a book" than to actually sharpen a pencil and write..diet books are great to read, but require effort to put into practice..think I'll find a different book! I want one I can put under my pillow, and when I wake up, I've lost 5 lbs..do that enough, and with no more effort than that, I'm down to my ideal weight and life can be grand. Wait, I should write a book about it, then I can get rich while I lose weight in my sleep

Click to expand...

I think that those who "get it" realize that the steps are relatively simple ones. Those who don't "get it" have been told to "get it" more than once, but the message never sank in through their parents, teachers, and eventually-therapists. They are just now on a different plane of helpers(Book writing self-help gurus) who are telling them the same thing that others tried- "if you do X, Y, and Z, life will be a lot simpler and you'll have less problems." If it helps people to realize the mistakes they are made, then all the better for those people. I'm certain those books have turned around lives.

Not really self-help, but some good psychology-based books:
Opening Skinner's Box
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

Health:
9 Ways to Body Wisdom - Jennifer Harper

Self-help:
The Assertiveness Workbook - Randy Paterson
People Skills - Bolton

Spirituality:
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle (or anything by Tolle)
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

I agree with what Peder said. I also think that a book that helps YOU might not necessarily help ME. I pretty much went off self-help books twenty-odd years ago because they all had confliciting advice.

As far as general psychology, what I used to read were the books on helping "impossible to help" children by Torey Hayden, and "Son Rise" by Barry Neil Kaufman (I'm proud that I remembered these authors and didn't have to look them up.)

One book I can recommend is "How to Survive the Loss of a Love" (can't remember the author and am too lazy to look it up now). Helped me get through some hard losses (not just through death).

Best Self-Help Book?

I have read a lot of self-help books from psychology to fitness to religious to just plain useless. I can't really say that any of them made a lasting impact on my life or any particular aspect of it.

Anyway, enough about me. Does anyone else have experiences to share with self-help books that may be able to help other people?

Post your views on self-help books!!

Hello all, I like reading self-help books and I wanna know your thoughts on these kind of books. Anybody who is interested can leave ur replies here.
I look forward to your participation.
Thanks...

I've got a lot of self-improvement books, some better than others, but there's value in almost all of them. Tony Robbins has evolved over the years. His older books/tapes were very helpful to me, but his newer ones seem to mostly plug his seminars. I have both Personal Power and Personal Power II, and his seminar plugging in the second edition was pretty bad. I doubt if I would ever buy another Robbins book simply because I know I would be subjected to marketing.

In years past I had heard mostly bad things about Brian Tracy, such as he claimed to have a PhD when he really didn't. But last year I decided to give him a chance and I purchased The Ultimate Goals Program on CD. It was very good, even though a lot of it is geared toward corporate ladder climbers. I just listen to the CD's that interest me the most and I leave the others alone. After I purchased Ultimate Goals, I purchased a book he wrote in the early 90's that I found in a small used book store. It's called Maximum Achievement and it was also very good.

If you get results from self-help books, then they're great, if not, then they're junk. I've gotten tangible results from them.

As long as the book motivates the reader I would give it a thumbs up. Motivation is all that's needed to accomplish almost anything. If a self-help book gets you motivated to make a change for the better than it has done its job.

I will always speak favorably of the Dale Carnegie series of books, whether for becoming more sociable and outward going, or speaking more easily in front of a group of people or, even, learning how to control worry and lead a happier life. They were there for me at a crossroads in my own life and set me on a much better road.

Motivation has already been mentioned; I would add honest self-assessment as another highly valuable ingredient for self-improvement -- to motivate the motivation, as it were. Too many people say "I don't need improvement" and actually fear it.

A somewhat out of the way and unusual book that I would also recommend is Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. It, like the Carnegie books, is more than just pep talk, and also gives a process that anyone can follow -- if they will only have faith, believe in it, and give it a try. Especially the last part -- give it a try. Nothing comes from not trying.

Good luck to anyone starting out.

I have taken many steps to improve my life after going through self-help books. Though now i follow only a few but it is worth it. I have seen the positive changes in me and I feel more confident and relaxed now-a-days.
I would like to recommend "The Practical Guide to Exceptional Living" by Jim Garland. This book's theme is to 'Live the Life of your Dreams'.