States of mind Book

Alternate title: I'm Cynical, You're Cynical

Okay, so now I've read several books on the evils of the self-help industry and I think I'm getting a little tired of the topic. I may not be in the best position to give Wendy a fair review under the circumstances, but I'll try.

This book begs a comparison to Steve Salerno's "SHAM." Wendy's tone is more detached and academic than Steve's, and Steve's book is more expansive. Wendy's basic gripe with the self-help movement seems to be its abdication of control and responsibility in favor of placing uncritical trust in a higher power -- G-d, or more frequently, a self-help guru. Wendy attacks the concept of co-dependence (which she defines rather broadly and vaguely), the twelve-step movement, irrational New Age rhetoric, and the reintroduction of G-d and spirituality into self-help. Her overall thesis might be summed up by George Carlin's quote in SHAM, which I'll paraphrase: If you're reading it in a book, people, it's not self-help -- it's help!

The other books I've read in this genre quoted Wendy frequently, so there wasn't a whole lot of new information here for me. Maybe I'd have given this a higher rating if I'd read it before I read the others.