Help Me!: One Woman's Quest to Find Out if Self-Help Really Can Change Your Life

Self-help is big business. Each year, consumers spend millions of dollars on books, courses and other tools that promise to make them thin, rich, irresistible or wildly successful. But does self-help actually help? British journalist Marianne Power decided to find out, by reading and following one self-help book per month for a year. After 12 months, she'd surely become--if not perfect--at least a better version of herself. Right?

Taking the form of a "stunt" memoir while also poking fun at it, Power's memoir, Help Me!, chronicles her journey (16 months in the end) of reading and emulating such self-help classics as The Secret and The Power of Now. She tries naked yoga, chats up men on the subway and delves into her troubled relationship with money. Initially, despite her enthusiasm, Power's journey leads to self-obsession rather than self-improvement; readers may cringe as she alienates several friends and brushes off a kind man. Overwhelmed by her own imperfections, she wonders if the project is worth it. But with the help of some stalwart friends and her no-nonsense mother (whose sardonic one-liners constitute some of the best advice in the book), Power begins to find her way forward.

She gains a few lasting insights, mostly having to do with living in the moment, accepting herself and asking for help when she needs it. Like most journeys, her self-help odyssey didn't lead where she expected it would, but her wry account is entertaining, sympathetic and even--perhaps--helpful. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

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