Self-help

If you read a book that tries to change you for the better and it fails or doesn't resonate, then it's a self-help book.

If you read a book that actually succeeds in changing you for the better, then the label changes from self-help book to great book.

We don't like books that fail, because they waste our time, they offend us, they speak a different language or they make us feel out of sorts. Self-help books are a bane.

On the other hand, a book that resonates with us, whether it's Catcher in...