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Reading self-help books can create new problems
There is plenty of self-help material available, but don’t expect quick fixes to deeper problems
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The self-help book genre grew annually by 11 per cent from 2013 to 2019, according to market research group NPD.
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Omer Ali Saifudeen
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Singaporeans famously love to upgrade – their commute, their cars, their homes, their education qualifications and themselves, going by the popularity of self-help books. Go into any chain bookshop here, and the shelves are full of them.
Titles such as The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life, by Mark Mason, and Surrounded By Idiots: The Four Types Of Human Behaviour (Or, How To Understand Those Who Cannot Be Understood) by Thomas Erikson, have hung around on the bestseller lists of local bookstores such as Kinokuniya for months, if not years.
