Ranju Kunwor: Are self-help books really helping us?
I'll say this up front: One book cannot change your life. One self-help book will not transform your mindset, your habits or your emotional health, but the habit of reading might.
I recently read 'The Mountain Is You' by Brianna Wiest. It's a popular title in the self-help space — concise, digestible and motivational. It reads like the TikTok version of a self-help book: short chapters, compact insights and neatly packaged advice on how we sabotage ourselves. But it lacks depth and doesn't provoke critical thought. It offers little in the way of evidence-based guidance, psychological analysis or room for ambiguity.
In our fast-paced world, readers want quick fixes and digestible answers. But philosophy, healing, and self-understanding cannot be condensed into bite-sized commands. A book that tells you what to do and insists you are the problem risks flattening the complexity of the human experience.
I do believe mindset matters. Optimism, when grounded in reality, can be powerful. But self-help culture tends to treat optimism like a cure-all as if every problem is just a thought pattern waiting to be reversed. Sometimes, realism is what we need. Sometimes, we don't need affirmation; we need analysis.
Here are some of the problems with self-help books:
Some books in this genre, however, are truly valuable. One example is 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, and it is good because it provides structured approaches to behavioral change, not just motivation. Creating a way of life that suits you the best, that gets the best out of you, helps you live your purpose, is an ever-changing process. Change needs more thought, deeper thoughts, than a book just telling you what to do. So, if you really want to improve your life, question your purpose, develop a way of thinking, broaden your perspective or even improve your habits in general, I suggest reading philosophy books. Philosophy books are more elaborate and thought-provoking version of these modern self-help books.
My suggestions? Read to learn and have fun. Read as a hobby and as a way of living, not just to improve yourself. Do not read thinking that a book will change your life.
Read books that challenge you, not just ones that affirm you. If you truly want to grow, don't just read self-help books. Read philosophy. Read psychology. Read fiction. Read anything that expands your thinking and deepens your empathy.
Build real-life connections. Be with genuine people, who are genuinely positive and striving for success (if not successful) — those ambitious people who lift you up.
If you read self-help, let it be a supplement, not a substitute for therapy, mentorship or systemic change. Be skeptical of any book that implies you alone are the problem or you alone are the solution.
Live authentically! Authentic living with integrity is happiness.
Self-improvement is a noble pursuit. But make sure you are not living someone else's ideals. You define your goal; you go at your own pace.
We are all trying to get better, learn, evolve, be the best version of ourselves and connect with each other. We are all similar: We all have moments when we feel inadequate, and we are all in this together. If things feel fast-paced, like you need to constantly improve, if you feel like you cannot catch up, maybe slowing down is what you need. And maybe you can slow down by reading meaningful books, or novels that you enjoy, and not a self-help book.
One book won't change our life, but the habit of reading might.
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