Self-help: To millions of Americans it seems like a godsend. To many others it seems like a joke. But as investigative reporter Steve Salerno reveals in this groundbreaking book, it’s neither—in fact it’s much worse than a joke. Going deep inside the Self-Help and Actualization Movement (fittingly, the words form the acronym SHAM), Salerno offers the first serious exposé of this multibillion-dollar industry and the real damage it is doing—not just to its paying customers, but to all of American society.
Based on the author’s extensive reporting—and the inside look at the industry he got while working at a leading “lifestyle” publisher— SHAM shows how thinly credentialed “experts” now dispense advice on everything from mental health to relationships to diet to personal finance to business strategy. Americans spend upward of $8 billion every year on self-help programs and products. And those staggering financial costs are actually the least of our worries.
SHAM demonstrates how the self-help movement’s core philosophies have infected virtually every aspect of American life—the home, the workplace, the schools, and more. And Salerno exposes the downside of being uplifted, showing how the “empowering” message that dominates self-help today proves just as damaging as the blame-shifting rhetoric of self-help’s “Recovery” movement.
SHAM also reveals:
• How self-help gurus conduct extensive market research to reach the same customers over and over—without ever helping them
• The inside story on the most notorious gurus—from Dr. Phil to Dr. Laura, from Tony Robbins to John Gray
• How your company might be wasting money on motivational speakers, “executive coaches,” and other quick fixes that often hurt quality, productivity, and morale
• How the Recovery movement has eradicated notions of personal responsibility by labeling just about anything—from drug abuse to “sex addiction” to shoplifting—a dysfunction or disease
• How Americans blindly accept that twelve-step programs offer the only hope of treating addiction, when in fact these programs can do more harm than good
• How the self-help movement inspired the disastrous emphasis on self-esteem in our schools
• How self-help rhetoric has pushed people away from proven medical treatments by persuading them that they can cure themselves through sheer application of will
As Salerno shows, to describe self-help as a waste of time and money vastly understates its collateral damage. And with SHAM , the self-help industry has finally been called to account for the damage it has done.
Also available as an eBook
我很少会主动去推荐一本书,但这本书绝对是例外。它不仅仅是一本故事书,它更像是一场心灵的探险。作者构建的世界,充满了未知与挑战,同时也蕴藏着无限的可能。我被书中人物的勇气所感染,被他们的坚持所激励。即使面对绝境,他们也从未放弃对希望的追寻,这种精神力量,是我在现实生活中常常所缺失的。而且,作者在处理一些复杂的伦理困境时,展现出了非凡的智慧。他并没有给出简单的答案,而是引导读者去思考,去辩证地看待问题。这种开放性的叙事,让我对作者的敬意油然而生。我可以说,这本书改变了我看待某些问题的方式,让我对人性有了更深层次的理解。这是一种非常难得的体验,一本能够真正触动灵魂的书。
评分我不得不承认,在读这本书之前,我对这种类型的题材并没有太多的了解,甚至抱着一丝丝的疑虑。然而,事实证明,我的担忧完全是多余的。作者以一种近乎史诗般的叙事手法,将一个复杂而引人入胜的故事娓娓道来。他构建了一个令人难以置信的宏大背景,各种奇幻的设定,交织着古老的传说与未知的奥秘,让我目不暇接。那些奇特的生物,那些神秘的种族,每一个细节都被描绘得栩栩如生,仿佛就发生在我的眼前。最让我着迷的是,作者在叙事过程中,并没有一味地追求感官上的刺激,而是更加注重人物内心的挖掘。角色的动机,他们的选择,以及这些选择所带来的连锁反应,都得到了细致的刻画。我常常会陷入沉思,如果是我,面对同样的困境,又会做出怎样的选择?这种代入感,是我在许多其他作品中都未能体验到的。这本书给了我太多惊喜,它拓展了我对故事叙述方式的认知,也让我对作者的才华充满了敬意。
评分这本书的封面设计总是吸引我的目光,深邃的蓝色背景下,一抹耀眼的金色如同古老符文般闪烁,隐约透露着一种神秘而古老的召唤。每当我翻开它,总能感受到一股强大的气场扑面而来,仿佛开启了一段跨越时空的旅程。作者的文字功底毋庸置疑,他善于用精炼的语言勾勒出宏大的世界观,每一个词语都经过了深思熟虑,仿佛是精心雕琢的宝石,镶嵌在故事的脉络中。他笔下的角色,不再是简单的符号,而是有血有肉,有情有欲的鲜活生命。他们的喜怒哀乐,他们的挣扎与成长,都深深地牵动着我的心弦。我常常会跟着他们的脚步,一同经历惊心动魄的冒险,一同感受刻骨铭心的爱恨情仇。有时,我会被他们坚定的信念所震撼,有时,我也会为他们的无奈与痛苦而扼腕叹息。更重要的是,这本书不仅仅是讲述一个故事,它更像是一面镜子,映照出人性的复杂与光辉。它让我开始思考,在纷繁的世界中,我们应该如何坚守内心的原则,如何去爱,如何去原谅。每一次阅读,都像是一次心灵的洗礼,让我对生活有了更深刻的理解。
评分这是一本能够让人忘却时间的存在。当我沉浸其中时,外界的一切仿佛都消失了,只剩下我与书中人物的对话,与书中世界的共鸣。作者对于细节的把握,简直到了令人发指的地步。无论是宏伟的建筑,还是微小的饰品,亦或是人物微妙的表情变化,都得到了极致的展现。这使得整个故事充满了质感,仿佛你可以伸手触摸到那些古老的石墙,闻到空气中弥漫的奇特香料味。而且,这本书的节奏把握得非常巧妙,时而紧张刺激,让人心跳加速,时而又舒缓宁静,引人深思。我尤其喜欢作者对环境的描写,那些被战火蹂躏过的土地,那些静谧幽深的森林,都带着一种独特的生命力,仿佛它们本身也在诉说着自己的故事。这种沉浸式的阅读体验,对于任何一个热爱幻想文学的读者来说,都是一次不容错过的盛宴。我强烈推荐这本书给所有渴望逃离现实,进入一个全新世界的朋友们。
评分在阅读这本书的过程中,我无数次停下来,反复咀嚼那些精妙的句子。作者的语言风格独树一帜,他能够用最简单的词语,构建出最深刻的意境。他的比喻,他的拟人,都充满了诗意,让我在阅读中体会到一种文字本身的美感。而且,这本书并非是那种“为了写而写”的作品,它字里行间流露出的,是一种对生命、对情感、对宇宙的深刻洞察。我从中看到了人性的光辉,也看到了人性的阴暗;我看到了希望的火苗,也看到了绝望的深渊。这种复杂而矛盾的呈现,正是现实生活的写照,也正是这本书能够触动我内心深处的原因。我常常会因为某个情节而落泪,也会因为某个角色的成长而露出欣慰的笑容。这本书带给我的,不仅仅是阅读的乐趣,更是一种精神上的滋养,一种对生命意义的探索。
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