Rise in self-help books

Is it any wonder that after the events of the past year a large number of us have turned to self-

help books in an attempt to try to find peace of mind? With promises such as ‘feel happier’,

‘take back control of your life’ and ‘sleep better’, self-help books are written with the

intention to help their readers solve personal problems. Many of us are used to buying the

latest piece of fiction to escape our current realities and be transported into alternative ones,

but in the past year it is evident that readers have also turned to self-help books for advice and

solace in these difficult times.

According to the Independent, it’s not just during the pandemic that the popularity of

self-help books has risen. Whilst the Covid-19 crisis has, of course, helped to drive the sales

of such books – Nielsen Book Research found that people based in the UK, between the first

and second lockdowns, bought more than 1.6 million self-help books – in 2019 popular

psychology and health books rose to a record high of almost 4 million.

Apart from the obvious effect of the worldwide health scare over the past year,

political turmoil has also caused a rise in stress levels that have led to the increasing

popularity of self-help books. Self-help books cover a wide range of topics, such as looking

after your mental health, work-life balance, and self-care. Some of the most popular titles

include Hinch Yourself Happy by Mrs Hinch, an Instagram influencer who found fame

through her rigorous cleaning regimes, James Clear’s Atomic Habits, that aims to help you

form ‘better’ habits overnight, and Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk. The titles may range

vastly, but all of them have one particular thing in common: they aim to improve your life in

some way.

Have you read any self-help books? If you have, did you find them to enrich your life

in any positive way? If you haven’t picked up a self-help book, what’s stopping you?

Whatever the conclusions you may glean from self-help books, it remains to be said that they

are definitely a conversation starter.