The 10 Best self-help books
How to win friends, think more about sex, and get things done
Tuesday 19 June 2012
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1. How To Think More About Sex By Alain de Botton
£7.99, panmacmillan.com
De Botton says we need to balance love and desire, adventure and commitment, to find happiness.
2. On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
£4.99, penguin.co.uk
Head stoic Seneca provides a lucid, eloquent guide to living life with a stiff upper lip and a logical mind.
3. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffer
£12.99, eburypublishing.co.uk
Jeffer says we should stop trying to perfect our mental state, accept limited control and learn to live with it, then happiness follows.
4. Getting Things Done by David Allen
£12.99, littlebrown.co.uk
The likeable geek says we need to apply a two-minute rule to decisions and operate a "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" principle.
5. How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age by Dale Carnegie
£16.99, simonandschuster.co.uk
The Old English Sheepdog of the self-help cannon – amiable, companionable and dependable.
6. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
£8.99, hodder.co.uk
This two-million seller is actually not too silly, directing us to live in the moment, thus freeing ourselves from lots of anxiety.
7. Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn
£12.99, amazon.co.uk
The idea here is to reduce stress and become better all round by using mindful meditation to focus the mind on what is important.
8. Feeling Good by David Burns
£5.99, harpercollins.co.uk
This guide to basic cognitive behavioural therapy was shown to be as effective as prescription drugs at improving mood.
9. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
£6.49, penguin.co.uk
"If you are distressed by anything, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it." Counsel from a Roman Emperor.
10. The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker
£10.99, penguin.co.uk
Pinker takes the notion of the connectedness of thought and speech, then explores the science and reasoning behind it.
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