Just rechecked the title and “(mostly)” pretty well covers much of the criticism. I’m pleased you’ve trashed self-help even though it was a self-help book that radically changed my thinking for the better. I love my beer but alcohol is the most ruinous drug in my country. My self-help book didn’t improve my life.

The takeaway from this article is not even that self-help books are bad, but what they represent and it’s partly the American bootstrap thinking that powers the ridiculous notion of doing it my way. The bastard billionaires have sold us the myth of atomic power – that we individually (like them) can significantly change the world. The equally egregious cult of celebrity has reinforced this and I’m so sick of lotteries.

The truth is self evident. The only way forward is to collectivise. Let’s make a huge bonfire of self-help books, give the finger to Bill Gates and Richard Branson, put on our yellow vests and lean on each other