Which is strange, because if you had any other complex system which was "broken", you would probably love to work out why and put it right.
I recommend you read some http://twitter.com/#!/pjeby who is a programmer trying to rework "self help" into the less woo-woo and more practical and sensible methods under the name "mindhacking".
The problem with self-help books -- and I don't think this applies to "How to Win Friends", which is a classic -- is that their authors make money by selling books, not by taking their own advice. The average self-help book does not contain good advice, nor is there any particular reason that it should.
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Which is strange, because if you had any other complex system which was "broken", you would probably love to work out why and put it right.
I recommend you read some http://twitter.com/#!/pjeby who is a programmer trying to rework "self help" into the less woo-woo and more practical and sensible methods under the name "mindhacking".
( Watch the video http://thinkingthingsdone.com/2008/07/thoughts-into-action.h... for an example of his de-woo-ing kind of approach).
The problem with self-help books -- and I don't think this applies to "How to Win Friends", which is a classic -- is that their authors make money by selling books, not by taking their own advice. The average self-help book does not contain good advice, nor is there any particular reason that it should.