How do you solve the problem of human happiness? It's a subject that has occupied some of the greatest philosophers of all time, from Aristotle to Paul McKenna - but how do we sort the good ideas from the terrible ones? Over the past five years, Oliver Burkeman has travelled to some of the strangest outposts of the 'happiness industry' in an attempt to find out. In Help!, the first collection of his popular Guardian columns, Burkeman presents his findings. It's a witty and thought-provoking exploration that punctures many of self-help's most popular myths, while also offering clear-headed, practical and often counterintuitive advice on a range of subjects, from stress, procrastination and insomnia to wealth, laughter, time management and creativity. It doesn't claim to have solved the problem of human happiness. But it might just bring us one step closer.
HELP!
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Addictive, wise and very funny. Burkeman never takes himself too seriously, but the rest of us should.' - Tim Harford, author of THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Oliver Burkeman is a feature writer for the Guardian. He is a winner of the Foreign Press Association's Young Journalist of the Year award, and has been shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. He writes a popular weekly column on psychology, This Column Will Change Your Life, and has reported from London, Washington, and New York. www.oliverburkeman.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I consider myself an amateur student of psychology. I discovered this writer through his column in the British newspaper "The Guardian". I then bought the book and have been reading it. This book is excellent. Unlike most books on psychology, which either are dry and scientific, or unproven and just self-promoting fluff, this book is humorous, very interesting, and is packed with real information that you can use now. The author is not promoting his own psychological techniques. What he did was go around the world and study what works and what doesn't work. The result is a veritable library of useful information, all divided into chapters on for example, how to become more productive, how to use your brain more efficiently, how to influence people, etc. I am using some of the techniques from the book (index cards and the "pomodoro technique"). Can't recommend this book enough.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is culled from a series of Guardian newspaper columns, and represent one newspaper hack's attempts to use self-help materials to better his life. As such, it could easily have been an excuse for a truly British middle-class whinge, based on one of those mish-mash columns of semi-coherent ramblings that really tells us nothing at all, and that seems to exist between the gardening section and Sudoku in the pages of UK newspapers' weekend sections with the sole purpose of making the reader feeling slightly soiled and withered.
Thankfully, Oliver Burkeman keeps the cheap-shots largely in check, and it soon becomes very clear that the author is genuinely interested in scrutinising this material and sifting for insights. His prose is quite informal and breezy, but he does a fine job of praising the authors that he feels are not snake-oil salesman (and so Cal Newport and David Allen emerge relatively unscathed), whereas others who seem to promise the earth, or require massive change in the service of nebulous goals, receive something of a dressing down (Stephen Covey and Anthony Robbins both come in for some criticism). I think this brings up an important point- if, like me, you have been influenced by various self-help gurus over the years it might be easy to get defensive if your particular favorite life-coach or guru comes in for some flak from Burkeman, but I think it is possible to disagree with his assessment on various thinkers, and still derive some worth from this book. You should note though that author never managed to change his life substantially after all his research: one way to view this is to admire his honesty (which I do); another is to be more skeptical and ask yourself if you would trust someone to speak authoritatively about a subject that they have had no real success in.
It is important to realize that he is not the 'Richard Dawkins' of self-help skepticism and he isn't trying to debunk the whole field, although he does appeal substantially to contemporary sociological/psychological research (in this, he often parallels the equally interesting 59 Seconds and Brain Rules). Consequently, this is a useful book for for the self-help aficionado looking to contextualise their own thinking, and also for the individual new to a field that even the most diehard self-help consumer must admit has its share of charlatans. It never takes itself too seriously, and ultimately is quite a fun read.
Thankfully, Oliver Burkeman keeps the cheap-shots largely in check, and it soon becomes very clear that the author is genuinely interested in scrutinising this material and sifting for insights. His prose is quite informal and breezy, but he does a fine job of praising the authors that he feels are not snake-oil salesman (and so Cal Newport and David Allen emerge relatively unscathed), whereas others who seem to promise the earth, or require massive change in the service of nebulous goals, receive something of a dressing down (Stephen Covey and Anthony Robbins both come in for some criticism). I think this brings up an important point- if, like me, you have been influenced by various self-help gurus over the years it might be easy to get defensive if your particular favorite life-coach or guru comes in for some flak from Burkeman, but I think it is possible to disagree with his assessment on various thinkers, and still derive some worth from this book. You should note though that author never managed to change his life substantially after all his research: one way to view this is to admire his honesty (which I do); another is to be more skeptical and ask yourself if you would trust someone to speak authoritatively about a subject that they have had no real success in.
It is important to realize that he is not the 'Richard Dawkins' of self-help skepticism and he isn't trying to debunk the whole field, although he does appeal substantially to contemporary sociological/psychological research (in this, he often parallels the equally interesting 59 Seconds and Brain Rules). Consequently, this is a useful book for for the self-help aficionado looking to contextualise their own thinking, and also for the individual new to a field that even the most diehard self-help consumer must admit has its share of charlatans. It never takes itself too seriously, and ultimately is quite a fun read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Even if you're skeptical about selfhelp ideas, you may not realize that you've accidentally absorbed some of these beliefs from the workplace, the media, etc. So which strategies and concepts are supported by research and which are nonsense? The author tries to find some answers. He's a journalist, and he reports on these ideas the way any good reporter might check out a politician's ideas or a business chief's plans.
This is a surprisingly funny book, with lots of short bites of info for easy reading.
This is a surprisingly funny book, with lots of short bites of info for easy reading.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
recommended
I love Oliver Burkemann's columns in the Guardian (or is Observer?) so was keen to get this. A great read, not taking itself too seriously but some good advice in amongst the fun. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Helen Rawlins
A good summary of the self help landscape with some great pearls of...
This book feels more like a collection of magazine articles than a book but is a fun and informative read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tina P
Well worth the price
If you have ever been tempted to buy a self help book, read this book first. Burkeman distills the essence of many books into short paragraphs and reveals the limited value of each... Read more
Published 15 months ago by D. Woods
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