50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life from Timeless Sages to Contemporary Gurus

313 Pages·2003·1.89 MB·English

by  Tom Butler-Bowdon

50 Self-Help
Classics
First published in Great Britain and USA by
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© Tom Butler-Bowdon 2003
The right of Tom Butler-Bowdon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN 1-85788-323-3
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Butler-Bowdon, Tom, 1967–
50 self-help classics : 50 inspirational books to transform your life / Tom Butler-Bowdon.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-85788-323-3
1. Self-help techniques—Bibliography. 2. Life skills—Bibliography. I. Title: Fifty
self-help classics. II. Title.
Z7204.S44 B88 2003
[BF632]
253.5’3—de21
2002040774
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50 Self-Help
Classics
50 inspirational books to transform your life,
from timeless sages to contemporary gurus
Tom Butler-Bowdon
N I C H O L A S B R E A L E Y
P U B L I S H I N G
L O N D O N
YA R M O U T H , M A I N E
Ellen J. Langer
Alain de Botton
Richard Koch
William Bridges
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Henry David Thoreau
Wayne Dyer
Steve Andreas & Charles Faulkner
Marcus Aurelius The Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Lao Tzu
Maxwell Maltz
Anthony Robbins
Thomas Moore
Paulo Coelho
Martha Beck
Carol S. Pearson
Norman Vincent Peale
The Dhammapada
Stephen Covey
The Bhagavad-Gita Shakti Gawain
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Florence Scovell Shinn
Daniel Goleman
James Allen
Boethius
The Bible
Abraham Maslow David D. Burns
Robert Bly
Deepak Chopra
Viktor Frankl
Philip C. McGraw
Joseph Murphy
M. Scott Peck
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Louise Hay Martin Seligman
Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers
James Hillman
Samuel Smiles
Marianne Williamson
Richard Carlson
Ayn Rand
Dale Carnegie
John Gray
Susan Jeffers
Benjamin Franklin
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 James Allen As a Man Thinketh (1902) 10
2 Steve Andreas & Charles Faulkner (NLP Comprehensive Team)
NLP: The New Technology of Achievement (1994) 14
3 Marcus Aurelius Meditations (2nd century) 22
4 Martha Beck Finding Your Own North Star: How to Claim the Life
You Were Meant to Live (2001) 26
5 The Bhagavad-Gita 30
6 The Bible 36
7 Robert Bly Iron John (1990) 40
8 Boethius The Consolation of Philosophy (6th century) 46
9 Alain de Botton How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997) 50
10 William Bridges Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes
(1980) 56
11 David D. Burns Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (1980) 62
12 Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers The Power of Myth (1987) 68
13 Richard Carlson Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… And It’s All
Small Stuff (1997) 74
14 Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) 80
15 Deepak Chopra The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (1994) 86
16 Paulo Coelho The Alchemist (1993) 92
17 Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) 96
18 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience (1990) 102
19 The Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler The Art of Happiness:
A Handbook for Living (1998) 108
20 The Dhammapada (Buddha’s teachings) 114
21 Wayne Dyer Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life
(1992) 120
22 Ralph Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance (1841) 126
23 Clarissa Pinkola Estés Women Who Run with the Wolves
(1992) 132
50 SELF-HELP CLASSICS
24 Viktor Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning (1959) 138
25 Benjamin Franklin Autobiography (1790) 144
26 Shakti Gawain Creative Visualization (1978) 150
27 Daniel Goleman Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter
More than IQ (1995) 154
28 John Gray Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992) 160
29 Louise Hay You Can Heal Your Life (1984) 166
30 James Hillman The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and
Calling (1996) 170
31 Susan Jeffers Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway (1987) 176
32 Richard Koch The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving
More with Less (1998) 182
33 Ellen J. Langer Mindfulness: Choice and Control in Everyday
Life (1989) 188
34 Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching (5th–3rd century BC) 194
35 Maxwell Maltz Psycho-Cybernetics (1960) 198
36 Abraham Maslow Motivation and Personality (1954) 204
37 Philip C. McGraw Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing
What Matters (1999) 210
38 Thomas Moore Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating
Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (1992) 216
39 Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (1963) 222
40 Norman Vincent Peale The Power of Positive Thinking (1952) 228
41 Carol S. Pearson The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We
Live By (1986) 234
42 M. Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled (1978) 240
43 Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged (1957) 246
44 Anthony Robbins Awaken the Giant Within (1991) 252
45 Florence Scovell Shinn The Game of Life and How to Play It
(1925) 258
46 Martin Seligman Learned Optimism (1991) 264
47 Samuel Smiles Self-Help (1859) 270
48 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin The Phenomenon of Man (1955) 276
49 Henry David Thoreau Walden (1854) 282
50 Marianne Wiliamson A Return to Love (1994) 288
50 More Classics 294
Credits 301
vi
Acknowledgments
To each of the authors: Thank you writing your classic and for your
unique contributions to personal development. I’ve had a great time
reading your books and telling other people about them.
To the publishers: Thank you for your commitment to a field of
writing that has never, despite its popularity, had much critical atten-
tion. I hope that this book will generate even more readers for your
titles.
To Tamara Lucas: Thanks for your love and inspiration, and for
putting up with the computer in the evenings.
To Marion Butler-Bowdon: Thanks for so much over the last 35
years, and for being the book’s greatest promoter.
To Noah and Beatrice Lucas: Thanks for your continued support
and interest in what I do.
To Nick Brealey of Nicholas Brealey Publishing: Thanks for your
insights, enthusiasm, and close attention to the work, and Sally
Lansdell for editing.
And for others who have given feedback, words of encouragement,
or a sense of perspective, recently and over the years: Andrew Arsenian,
Andrew Chang, John Melville, Giselle Rosario, my siblings Caroline,
Teresa, Charles, Edward, Piers, and Richard and their partners Charles,
Will, Valerie, Kate, Tammy, and Ruth, my nieces and nephews Celeste,
Caleb, Jacob, Toby, and Conrad, the Pollocks Joy, Norman, Jane,
Cathy, Adrian, and Roger, the Taylors Maurice, Barbara, Howard, and
Jessica, the Misaks Sonia, Albert, Natan, and Raphael, Sarah Raven-
scroft, Humphrey Butler-Bowdon, Paul Goose, Fitzroy Boulting,
Richard Koch, Ronnie Gramazio, Frazer Kirkman, Pria Mitra, Ian
Hunter, Nick Harford, Tom Magarey, David Meegan, and Yvette,
Rosemary, Karen, and Isobel at OCC. This book is also inspired by my
father Anthony William Butler-Bowdon (1913–2001).
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Introduction
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can
alter his life by altering his attitudes.”
William James (1842–1910)
“Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant
findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can
choose the way they think.”
Martin Seligman, Learned Optimism
ou will have heard many times that “you can change your life by
changing your thoughts and your mental habits,” but have you
Yever stopped to consider what that means? This book identifies
some of the most useful ideas from writings specifically devoted to per-
sonal transformation—from the inside out.
I have called these books “self-help classics.” You may already have
an idea of what self-help is, but that understanding should be deepened
by the range of authors and titles covered in these pages. If there is a
thread running through the works, it is their refusal to accept “com-
mon unhappiness” or “quiet desperation” as the lot of humankind.
They acknowledge life’s difficulties and setbacks as real, but say that
we cannot be defined by these. No matter how adverse the situation,
we always have room to determine what it will mean to us, a lesson
given us in two books covered here, Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for
Meaning and Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy. To consciously
decide what we will think, not allowing genes or environment or fate
to determine our path—this is the essence of self-help.
A conventional view of self-help is that it deals with problems, but
most of the self-help classics are about possibilities. They can help
reveal your unique course in life, form a bridge between fear and hap-
piness, or simply inspire you to be a better person. Samuel Smiles wrote
the original Self-Help in 1859. He feared that people would think his
book a tribute to selfishness. In fact it preached reliance on one’s own
efforts, the never-say-die pursuit of a goal that did not wait on govern-
ment help or any other kind of patronage. Smiles was originally a