Book Review: Helping Me Help Myself by Beth Lisick

The self-help industry is a lucrative one indeed. Per Melanie Lindner of Forbes, "Americans spent $11 billion in 2008 on self-improvement books, CDs, seminars, coaching and stress-management programs--13.6% more than they did back in 2005, according to Marketdata Enterprises, an independent Tampa-based research firm that tracks everything from adoption agencies to funeral homes. Latest forecast: 6.2% annual growth through 2012." That's a lot of money, and this industry definitely needs as many people as possible to pull back the curtain from time to time and keep these people honest. Hooray for Beth Lisick, who has taken on this considerable task and done a rather good job of it, to boot.

For most of my twenties I was a self-help/self-improvement junkie, so I feel more than qualified to review this book. I even gave it a "shout-out" in my Annual Recommended Reading list for 2009 (reference attached). My husband, who is a writer himself, bought it for me after reading a favorable review of it on www.sfgate.com. Ms. Lisick is a Bay Area native (Berkeley), and in addition to writing her books she also participates in a number of local literary events such as Litquake. The jacket of her book states that "she has contributed to public radio's This American Life and is the cofounder of the monthly Porchlight storytelling series in San Francisco." I have probably passed her in the street many times, particularly since she apparently takes occasional gigs passing out bananas (dressed as a banana) on Financial District sidewalks.

Ms. Lisick gives a detailed account of her experiences with twelve self-help "gurus," by reading their books and whenever possible, attending a public engagement or arranging for a telephone conference as well. The gurus profiled include such luminaries as Jack Canfield, Dr. John Covey, John Gray, Richard Simmons, Julia Cameron and Deepak Chopra. She interweaves her attendance at these events with her own ongoing life experiences, using them as a background to place each of these gurus in context. In other words, she identifies an aspect of her life that needs improving, presents the respective guru who could conceivably lend light on the issue, and then relates the advice of that guru to the issue in question. The book follows her through seminars in hotel ballrooms, on a cruise (Richard Simmons), and to Italy. She even spends an evening at Jack Canfield's massive home (his son is a friend of hers and her husband's), and has an enviable opportunity to discuss her book with him in advance of its publication.

Helping Me Help Myself is funny and engaging, and Ms. Lisick does not hesitate to lampoon the manipulative tactics of many of these self-help gurus, while carefully identifying the material they present that is valuable. I did find her selection of gurus curious, though. I have a visceral dislike of a few of the gurus on her roster, although I will not list these for you because I believe my reactions are typical of most self-improvement junkies. Either a self-help guru resonates with me, or he or she is obviously selling snake oil. There isn't much of a middle ground there, as far as I'm concerned.

The one thing I especially like about this book is the careful detailing Ms. Lisick provides of the ongoing financial hit an artist in America takes, in the course of practicing his or her craft. For that alone, this book deserves to be stacked alongside Barbara Ehrenreich's wonderful book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, for her very astute observations and direct experience of what it's like to live on a low-income job for a protracted period of time. When you make your living as an artist, and by "artist" I am including writers, designers of all stripes, musicians and craftspeople as well, you settle for the fact that you will be financially challenged for the rest of your life, including well into your "golden years." I cringed as I read Ms. Lisick's detailing of her day-to-day financial struggles, because I can relate to them so acutely. As a former art student and a creative person, this book hits very close to home indeed.

I'm not going to give away Ms. Lisick's final conclusions on these gurus and the self-help field in general, because I think that's about as bad as revealing the ending of a movie in a review. But I do think that you will find them interesting after checking out the book. I certainly did.

This book makes for good summer reading, but I would recommend checking it out in any season, particularly if you are trying to improve yourself or are interested in locating a self-help guru. Even if you don't agree with Ms. Lisick's analyses, it's entertaining reading and you will invariably find some of yourself in her odyssey. And that's worth quite bit right there.

http://www.amazon.com/Helping-Me-Help-Myself-Self-Help/dp/0061710733/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246475690&sr=1-1

http://www.bethlisick.com/

http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/15/self-help-industry-ent-sales-cx_ml_0115selfhelp.html

(This is the Forbes article on how the self-help industry, at least so far, has managed to avoid any kind of recession-related setbacks)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1354752/inspirational_book_list_for_2009_with.html?cat=38

(This is my Book List for 2009.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=0805063889

(this is the Amazon link for Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America)