Critically Reading Self-Help Books

   However well intentioned, many self-help books are based on very specific results to a specific person in specific circumstances. Sometimes these things can be motivating or inspiring. This is all well and good. Where it can be unproductive, or even worse, counterproductive is when this leads to a formula for guaranteed success. We can liken these differences to what the scientific community calls a case study. A case study is a detailed look at one case to get unique details that would be hard to measure with a large population. Case studies do not produce forms of treatment. Experimental research is what is more helpful in this regard. For example, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy has specific steps that EFT therapists around the globe are trained in and replicate. The outcome studies are valuable because the same thing has been done with couples of different ages, races, location, amount of kids, etc and has found lasting success. This is very different from a couple telling you their unique story and then telling you what to do. 
  Many self help books are not written by people with education in an area or professional experience in the domain of their writing. This does not mean none of them have anything valuable to say, but this does mean we have an unbelievably oversaturated market that may have some nuggets of truth dispersed throughout a very deep ocean. An alternative to this, would be finding someone that is actually practicing in their field. We wrote a review on Love and Respect by Dr. Eggerichs. It's a, respectfully, horrendous book on relationships that is often rated highly by your average person. You know what he is not? A marriage therapist. Nor are his degrees. Completely unrelated to marriage therapy. He is simply a man that made 2 verses in the bible more than what they are intended to be, took other scripture out of context to support his message, and was effective at marketing.
    Some communicators are great at tickling ears. They can write things in such a way that they can make us believe in a different future. There are far too many variables that can keep this from working though. Here are some things that can help navigate these types of books:

1. Question what they say. If they cite something, look into it. You can like a book overall and still dislike portions of it. 
   
2. Do some research on the author. They do not necessarily have to be educated in the field to have something valuable, but this can help weed out certain things.
   
3. You can disagree with an author and still find value in a book. Get comfortable doing this.