The 10 Best self-help books

How to win friends, think more about sex, and get things done

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.