Helping Me Help Myself

One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone

By: Beth Lisick

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Beth Lisick has had a lifelong phobia of anything slick, cheesy, or that remotely claims to provide self-empowerment. But on New Year's Day 2006, she wakes up finally able to admit that something has to change. Determined to confront her fears head-on, Beth sets out to fix her life by consulting the multimillion-dollar-earning experts. In Chicago, she gets proactive with The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In Atlanta, she struggles to understand why "women are from Venus". She gamely sweats to the oldies on a weeklong Cruise to Lose with Richard Simmons on the high seas of the Caribbean. Throughout this yearlong experiment, Beth tries extremely hard to maintain her wry sense of humor and easygoing nature, even as she starts to fall prey to some of the experts' ideas - ideas she thought she'd spent her whole life rejecting.

©2008 Beth Lisick (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Soggy bloggy stuff

I wanted to like this book (too) so I was disappointed that it read so much like entries in a dashed-off blog. The tone is wry but ultimately pleasant about everyone and everything. No investigation or insight, just "my day at the event". Since I have an interest in the topic, I found the unrelated personal details frustrating. And it's mostly all unrelated personal detail. Detail of the "I saw a cute boy in the bar but nothing happened" variety.
On the other hand, how long have I been waiting for Starlee Kine to finish her book on self help? Ages! And still nothing!