Thousands of books have been written offering the secrets to personal fulfillment and happiness, but which ones can really change your life? In 50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life, Tom Butler-Bowdon has sorted through the bewildering array of self-help books to bring together fifty of the most important works on personal development and self-motivation. Representing the very best of the genre and appreciating that each of us is inspired by different underlying philosophies, Butler-Bowdon summarizes each writer’s background, the book’s primary concepts, and who benefits by reading it. Time-strapped readers can easily compare ideas to enrich their understanding of self-awareness and self-improvement with the likes of: Marcus Aurelius; The Bhagavad-Gita; The Bible; Robert Bly; Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers; Deepak Chopra; Paulo y Coelho; Stephen Covey; The Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler; Ralph Waldo Emerson; Viktor Frankl; Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Moore; M. Scott Peck; Ayn Rand; Henry David Thoreau The classics examined here represent the very best of self-help-works that have captured the imagination of millions and inspired readers everywhere to follow their dreams.
A brilliant introduction to the “literature of possibility” In both this volume and in 50 Success Classics, Butler-Bowdon has selected and then provided a rigorous examination of carefully selected works which have had, for decades, a profound impact on those who read them and then applied the principles which their respective authors affirm. In this instance, inspiration and guidance to transform one’s life. There are several reasons why I hold this volume in such high regard. Here are three.First, Butler-Bowdon has assembled excerpts and focused on key points from a wide variety of works which include (with authors listed in alphabetical order, as in the book), Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Robert Bly’s Iron John, Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers’ The Power of Myth, Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler’s The Art of Happiness, Wayne Dyer’s Real Magic, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance, Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Abraham Maslow’s Motivation…
Truly a rare treasure. This is the only book I’ve ever read that made me jealous. I’m the author of the book Self-Help Stuff That Works, published in 1999, and I’ve never come across its equal (at least in my own biased opinion) until now. Many times while reading this book I felt jealous. Tom Butler-Bowdon has done things I wish I had done. And he writes with a powerful clarity I admire.Sometimes an author can say what another author has said, but say it clearer and better than the original author. Tom has done that in these pages. He often gets across the message of the original book with far more clarity and punch than the original ever had.Each classic has its own chapter and each chapter is wonderfully short. There is never a dull moment. The book has a lot of nice features too: pithy quotes from the original book, a summary of the main point of each classic, and recommended books in a similar vein. At the end of each chapter is a short biography of the author. While reading…