Customer Reviews

Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone

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I wanted to like this book. I did. Being a skeptic of the self-help guru movement myself, I was eagerly anticipating the results -- hopefully acerbic! -- of a skeptic's indepth examination of ten different gurus from Richard Simmons to Suze Orman. The author promises to spend a year investigating ten different self-help programs to see if she can really change her life. The question is, does she really want to change her life? Or would she rather stay in her financially-painful, undisciplined comfort zone of a life?

The author was both less skeptical (drat! Not enough cynicism for me!) and not committed enough to actually trying to implement and test the gurus' advice. Her life is a mess both in terms of finance and focus, facts she cheerfully -- even defensively -- admits and also as she admits, ripe for some overhauling. Yet, she never fully commits to any of the (expensive) programs some of which not only might have helped her personally, but have made the book a better read. Her commitment to testing their theories was as vague as her focus in life. Her occasional forays into TMI territory (did we really need to know about her brief relationship with a pothead, every boring conversation and kiss included, while on a Richard Simmons cruise without her husband? How did that add to anything in the story? And worst of all, the incident wasn't even funny!) merely serve to distract us from the testing of the theories just as she uses these events in her life to distract her from actually accomplishing anything.

Some months the author's program report consists of a paragraph, but by the end of the year the author seems to lose interest in her investigation and in writing the story. She takes refuge in a nicely-circular summation of how her life fits together and ends the year apparently unchanged.

As a reader, I learned little I didn't know before about these self-help programs with the possible exception of her largely-positive review of Richard Simmons. I did learn far more than I wanted to know about the author's messy life, which suffers from the ultimate failure of being... boring.

My first reaction to seeing this book was that it was a rip-off - been there, read that, got the T-shirt. "Helping Me Help Myself" seemed to be a blatant copycat of Jennifer Niesslein's "Practically Perfect in Every Way." Both books involve young 30-ish married women in hip towns (Charlottesville, VA and Berkley, CA) with one little boy and husbands with unconventional jobs. Both take a month-by-month approach to improving their lives: financial, parenting, fitness, relationships, home organization, etc.

The kicker here is that Lisick decides to go straight to the gurus themselves, instead of just getting their books. Some of her "guru" choices are curious. For example, pursuing fitness by going on a cruise with Richard Simmons is like flying to Paris and eating a Big Mac at McDonalds. What? No Oprah, Dr. Phil or Dr. Ruth? A week in Tuscany to read a book about artistic creativity?? Come on!!

Incurring the costs of dabbling in each of these self-improvement ventures sounds like it darn near bankrupts her family financially. It's hard to afford these trips when one of your main jobs is wearing a banana suit, though maybe she could get a job with Fruit-of-the-Loom for future marketing efforts.

The result is a relatively entertaining, albeit somewhat self-absorbed, journey down the path of reputed self-improvement.

At one point, Lisick quotes Henry Miller,

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."

Maybe she should ponder that quote a little more. "Forget yourself," indeed!

On January 1, 2006, author Beth Lisick realized she wanted to make some life changes, so she set off on an inspiring and amusing year-long journey. In 'Helping Me Help Myself' she brings readers along for the ride. She is honest and doesn't mind poking fun at herself. (And she especially doesn't mind poking fun at others.)

The journey begins immediately and starts out slowly, and at times I wasn't sure what the author was going to learn or accomplish. But things start to get rolling around the "April" chapter, in which she goes on a "Cruise To Lose" and encounters the one and only Richard Simmons. The whole experience is fun to read about, and though I'm not sure how badly she needed Richard's help in the first place, it doesn't matter. How many of us have secretly wondered what happens on those cruises? It's like a tell-all, and it's fantastic. Richard Simmons has helped a lot of people, and maybe you can't afford to cruise with him, but you can afford to read this book.

Throughout the year (and the book), the author seeks help for various things, including disorderliness and hoarding, parenting, her financial situation, and success. She reads self-help books by leading gurus and attends seminars and conferences, then summarizes all the information she's gathered and puts it in simple terms for us readers, all the while adding her own insight and reactions. She is a funny writer, and while sometimes she goes off on tangents that don't seem relevant, she always comes back to the point.

'Helping Me Help Myself' was a worthwhile read, and after reading it once, I'm tempted to read it again. Several of the chapters didn't apply to me, but others did, and after reading those, I feel inspired to go out and make some changes in my own life. Thanks, Beth Lisick!

This is thin material; it feels like a magazine article padded out to a (slender) book's length. And the approach bothered me. I would have appreciated a good, mean satire like Wendy Kaminer's I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help. Or I would have enjoyed a serious look at the various self-help fads. Instead, what we get is a paper-cup depth stand-up routine that is too timid to actually express a real opinion, or offend anybody. At the end we get a flaccid, "well, whatever gets you through the night" conclusion that left me feeling that as comedy or journalism this is pretty forgettable.

A more accurate title might be: "Not Helping Me Help Myself" or "How I Successfully Wiggled My Way out of Self-Help after an Entire Year of Immersion."

This book combines "Cliff Notes" of the various self-help programs Lisick reviewed within a year-long period with intricate details of her dysfunctional thoughts, actions and encounters along the way. The theme of the book seems to be "Ha, Ha, I'm dysfunctional and no one can do anything about it, not even Jack Canfield himself." I suppose that's a story many people can relate to but I'm not sure why it's necessary to dedicate an entire book to it.

As hard as Lisick tries to convince you she's a screw-up, she dilutes her message when she throws in stories about her two-week stay in a Tuscany villa, her chance meeting with a literary agent who ends up selling two of her books and her overnight stay at Jack Canfield's mansion. She tries to sour these incidents by clouding them with seemingly insignificant details like how she I spent every last dime she had to get to Tuscany or how she was late to the event where she met her agent and in fact, she almost blew the event off completely and, even though she spent the night at Jack Canfield's house and he gave her an autographed book and a copy of The Secret, she could barely look him in the eye when he walked in the room.

I guess if you want to commiserate about your past self-help failures, you're in good hands with his book. Or, maybe you're a Lisick fan and you will be fascinated to hear the blow by blow details of her cynical thoughts and disorganized life. However, if you're looking to read about a person who takes a year to help themselves and actually does, you'll be extremely disappointed. There is definitely no happy ending here unless you read between the lines then you could say, "hey it is possible to be cynical, sarcastic and disorganized and still manage to get a literary agent and a book on the New York Times Bestseller list." From that perspective, maybe she's right, maybe there is no need for self-help after all.

I've never read this author before and now I can safely say after reading "Helping Me Help Myself", I can't wait to dive into her other works. This book is great fun, mixing it up with popular "self-help" programs out there. Whether "building a personal mission statement" or trying to get organized, Lisick gives us a hilarious glimpse into her everyday attempts at changing her life. This book can be read in many sittings as every chapter is a gem on it's own. Each month is set aside for a different program. For example March is "Hug it Out" and October is "Add It Up"...right through until December where Lisick takes on the ultimate: "The Existance of God". Save your money on all those empowerment books and lessons out there, and read this book. You'll be a lot better off for it, if not happier!

The Key to enlightment is focus, which this book does not have. The author attempts to find her way using different methods, most with humorous results.

I liked her stumbling thru plans, no matter how is a disorganized mess. I think this woman needs to take a lesson from The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible in the way she organizes her next tome

It in a way seems like a new agey Dave Barry. funny, but uneven

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Helping Me Help Myself by Beth Lisick is a sometimes humorous look at the self-help industry. Author Lisick decides for her New Year's resolution that she is going to tackle a different self-help topic each month for a year and see how her life changes. Her snarky sense of humor both helps and hurts this book. Unfortunately, she never really sees herself as needing help, so she spends much of her time judging the instructors (Mars/Venus guru John Grey, Suze Orman, etc) and the participants. The only teacher who passes the muster with her is Richard Simmons, for his sheer dedication and authenticity. It's hard to tell if Lisick ever really takes any advice to heart, because she's a little too busy being snarky and justifying her lifestyle. There are some moments of insight, and looking at these programs honestly is a great idea, but I wish that Lisick had shown some humility.

"Helping Me Help Myself" is the author's journey through 12 months of self-help gurus such as Jack Canfield, Richard Simmons and Suze Orman.

As I read this book, my feelings about it varied widely. I found the first third or so of the book elitist and unnecessarily mean-spirited (and came close to not finishing because of it), while I found the latter part of the book witty, sweet and enjoyable. I suppose that kind of reaction is to be expected since I have my own personal experiences with and opinions of many of the self-help gurus that Ms. Lisick discusses (and, in some cases, skewers) in the book.

I especially enjoyed Ms. Lisick's chapter on her Cruise to Lose with Richard Simmons. I think that she went into that experience WANTING to make fun of his over-the-top personality and his adoring fans but found herself touched by Richard's warmth and true passion for helping people. I think that is where the book started to turn toward a softer, funnier and, for me, more enjoyable approach.

There were some great belly laughs in this book and, by the end, I found my way to liking Ms. Lisick and was glad that I kept reading past the mean-spirited first third.

Scheduled for release just as your own New Year's resolutions are starting to fray at the edges, Beth Lisick's Helping Me Help Myself will help you put things into perspective. Not because she learns how to conduct her life in zen-like calmness, but because her life will make yours look well-organized by comparison.

Lisick realizes that her life is disorganized, aimless, and her career is going nowhere. A major overhaul is in order, and since she's going to change every facet of her life, she'll need lots of help, and why not the best? She goes to self-help experts for tips on finances, child rearing, marriage, career, fitness, etc. Suze Orman, Richard Simmons, Julie Morgenstern, and others are recruited for duty. Lisick attends seminars, gets phone consultations, she even goes on a Richard Simmons fitness cruise. Does it help? Well, not really. But Lisick is lot of fun. Even though her life isn't streamlined and efficient, she seems to be a positive (if skeptical) and happy person, willing to try new things. She finds Suze Orman less helpful than I expected, and is surprised to find that she quite likes Richard Simmons. And the chapter about improving her writing the Julie Cameron way while spending every bit of her savings on a vacation in Tuscany - well, you can see that Lisick is fighting a losing battle. It's like watching Lucy Ricardo trying to become Martha Stewart.

Another book came out last May with a similar premise, Practically Perfect in Every Way by Jennifer Niesslein. But Niesslein wanted help with areas of her life that already seemed under control. She just wanted to tweak things a bit. (After reading the episode about her neighbor stealing her recycling bin, I wondered if Niesslein might have done better to look for help with her anger instead.) And her choice of experts to consult put me off: Dr. Laura, Dr. Phil, a priest.

Helping Me Help Myself is a funnier book, and when I finished it, I had to go to the library to pick up Lisick's other non-fiction book, Everybody Into the Pool, a memoir. And where had I seen her name before? Oh yes, in the credits of a very odd and enjoyable movie Spectres of the Spectrum (I can't synopsize here, it's just too weird).