Self-Help Stuff That Works

Rating:
Summary: Significant Book
Review: We are at a stage in history when the laws of success are becoming better understood. "Self-Help Stuff That Works", a one-stop motivational and peace-of-mind handbook, is an excellent contribution to this task. Based on findings in cognitive science and physiology, it provides an array of strategies and ideas that can keep you inspired through thick and thin.

Khan's book carries the spirit of Dale Carnegie in being for people who want to win, yet also has plenty of compassion for the human condition. You know that the author has thought deeply about and lived through all the advice he gives. For a modern self-help book it is full of old-style wisdom which doesn't date. For example, he asks us in one chapter to 'Forge mettle', and in another to 'Refuse to flinch'. He talks about the 'Samurai effect' (dedication to yours boss) for doing well at work. He also has plenty of very practical tips for smoother relations with others, such as 'When you talk to people, think of them as relatives'.

As the author of a book on the classic works in the self-help field ("50 Self-Help Classics"), I would regard this as one of the best titles in the contemporary literature because it is not empty theory or vain musings, but a down to earth treatment of what, in the Khan's own experience, really works.

Khan says in the Introduction that this is not a book you read in one sitting, as there is too much to absorb. Indeed there is a lot of stuff here so it works better to open it at random and read a chapter a day. There are also great quotes at the end of each chapter. All in all, the book provides a rare overview of the self-help/motivational field that has no barrow to push, and as a result has real credibility and usefulness. Recommended.

Tom Butler-Bowdon