50 self-help classics

[MCake]

I found this list online (Butler-Bowdon.com > 50 Self-Help Classics) and was surprised to discover that I've read many of them, LOL. For anyone who is interested, here's the complete list:

1. James Allen, As a Man Thinketh (1904)
2. S Andreas & C Faulkner (eds), NLP: The New Technology of Achievement (1996)
3. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (2ndC)
4. Martha Beck, Finding Your Own North Star (2001)
5. The Bhagavad-Gita
6. The Bible
7. Robert Bly, Iron John (1990)
8. Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (6thC)
9. William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes (1980)
10. David D Burns, The New Mood Therapy (1980)
11. Joseph Campbell (with Bill Moyers), The Power of Myth (1988)
12. Richard Carlson, Don't Sweat The Small Stuff (1997)
13. Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)
14. Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (1994)
15. Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist (1988)
16. Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)
17. Mihaly Cziksentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1991)
18. Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997)
19. The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler, The Art of Happiness (1999)
20. The Dhammapada (Buddha's teachings)
21. Wayne Dyer, Real Magic (1992)
22. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (1841)
23. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With The Wolves (1996)
24. Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning (1959)
25. Benjamin Franklin Autobiography (1790)
26. Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization (1982)
27. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (1995)
28. John Gray, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (1992)
29. Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life (1984)
30. James Hillman, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling (1996)
31. Susan Jeffers, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway (1987)
32. Ellen Langer, Mindfulness: Choice and Control in Everyday Life (1989)
33. Lao-Tzu Tao-te Ching (The Way of Power)
34. Maxwell Maltz, Psycho-Cybernetics (1960)
35. Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality (1954)
36. Phil C McGraw, Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters (2000)
37. Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul (1992)
38. Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (1963)
39. Norman Vincent Peale ,The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)
40. Carol Pearson, The Hero Within (1989)
41. M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled (1990)
42. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)
43. Anthony Robbins, Awaken The Giant Within (1991)
44. Florence Scovell-Shinn, The Game of Life and How To Play It (1923)
45. Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism (1991)
46. Samuel Smiles, Self-Help (1859)
47. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1955)
48. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)
49. Marianne Williamson, A Return To Love (1993)
50. Zig Ziglar, See You At The Top (1975)

I'm especially pleased to see Chopra, Gawain, Frankl and Coelho listed, along with several archetypical psychology books.. Notable oversight? Imho, Eckhart Tolle... along with a few others.

Which titles would you add to the list?

[Horselover]

Dr. Wayne Dyer "Excuses Begone!" Only one I can think of off hand. I saw they had another one of his books listed though.

Thanks Matt. I'll start reading them all. Just kidding. I may pick and choose a few though.

[yeahgr8]

I read this one, Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, in 1995, in Spain...i couldn't figure out what was wrong with me so joined a gym and locked myself away for about 3 months reading books...jeez?!

Will have to check out some others:-)

[Live]

oh, Wow, Mattcake..what a way to get an opinionated woman riled up and going on and on! LOL

Surprised and pleased to see #35 on there. One of my favorites, but I thought only nerds read it!
Also #37 and add it's companion books too!

RANT: HOW! I say HOW...can The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran not be on this list when I see quite a few that I consider fluff.

And if you are going to read # 41...it has two sequels and he has two other very important books. maybe more, depending on taste.. The original listed was written in his youth. I think he learned along the way when he wrote the books he published 40 years later.

If you are reading Ayn Rand...please note that there are no babies or children in the book! And what of the disabled? Intelligence is not a matter of choice, it is a genetic lottery, Ms. Rand, who lead quite an immoral life, and died a bitter, crazy old lady, deserted and alone. That one just sounds good on paper.

I sure would like to read Thoreau's Walden, have tried several times...but the man's pontification mummifies me. I applaud any and all who can get through it, you have real perserverence and stamina.

Matt, is this list from pop culture or from scholarly sources....I need to know before I burst a brain vessel or two????????

AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

hu-hum....
respectfully,
live

[Overman]

I'm with live on Rand, and I question many of the titles as being 'self-help' classics.

However...7, 20, and 24 are amongst my favs!

[MCake]

LOL Tena!! The books were picked by Tom Butler-Down (?!), I found the list on his website. From Wikipedia: Tom Butler-Bowdon - Wikipedia

Tom Butler-Bowdon (8 November 1967 in Adelaide, Australia) is a non-fiction author based in Oxford, England, most notable for the 50 Classics series of books, which provide commentaries on key writings in the personal development field.
Butler-Bowdon has been described as "a true scholar of this type of literature". He provided an article on 'Self-help books' for Encarta Encyclopedia, and his 50 Self-Help Classics won the 2004 Benjamin Franklin Award (US) for the Psychology/Self-Help category.
He is a graduate of the University of Sydney and the London School of Economics.

So I don't know what his actual credentials are, lol. He has compiled several lists, and ranked "The Prophet" at #15 in his top 50 spiritual books list - I'll post it in another thread.

As far as I'm concerned, reading Maslow should be compulsory in high school - or even middle school. Ditto Frankl. In fact, I'll be really nerdy and post Maslow's pyramid right now

I *really* appreciate Thomas Moore's ideas, his books are very worthwhile ("Dark Nights of the Soul" sheds impressive perspectives on addiction and depression). However, I cannot stand his preachy and condescending tone that, IMHO, ruins most of his works.

Overman, agreed. "Iron John" is a good book. Along the same lines, I recommend Bud Harris' "Emasculation of the Unicorn: The loss and rebuilding of Masculinity (in America)". It's more obscure than Bly's book, but much more sophisticated in its use of Jungian and archetypical analyses. Harris has recently published a followup, "Resurrecting the Unicorn: Masculinity in the 21st Century" (2009) - haven't read it yet.