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We all love a good self-help book! They help us to organize our lives and motivate us toward greater success in all areas, including love, career, and finance!
Once in a while, you stumble across a self-help book which completely changes your world view and impacts your life in ways you could not have imagined.
In this post, I’m going to detail my top 5 self help books of all time, books which have opened my mind and caused me to question conventional thinking.

1) How to Win Friends and Influence People
This was the first self-help book I ever read. It is iconic for a reason. Probably the most jolting (and most important!) takeaway from this book is that most people do not care about you – they care about themselves. This book shows how to achieve success in all areas of life by recognizing this fact. For example, when having a conversation with someone, you will establish more rapport (and achieve more leverage) by taking an active interest in the other person and his or her life. Use the other person’s first name (if appropriate); a person’s own name is the most beautiful sound in the world to him or her. Smile. Allow the other person to save face if a mistake is made (we are all human!). Be a good listener. Many public figures praise this book for teaching them the people skills which enabled their rise to the top. Dale Carnegie is the author.
2) The Rules
In the age of feminism, this one is controversial. However, it is time-tested, and it works! In a nutshell, this book demonstrates, through numerous anecdotes and observations to which all women can relate, the ancient truth that men like to hunt. Men are also visual creatures; a slim figure and long wavy hair are two of the most potent mating calls to men. These features may not win a man’s heart, but they will draw him over to you for a conversation. He will never have a chance to fall in love with your loving heart, brilliant mind, or winsome wit if he is not first visually attracted to you! These are harsh truths, but truths nevertheless. For years, I had impeccable makeup. However, I never attracted dates until I lost weight and grew my hair long. In addition, men flock to sought-after women; despite what politically correct talking points proclaim, relationships do have a better chance of long-lasting success if the man pursues the woman first. This book is also a potent protection for women against dead-end relationships; if a man does not want to work hard for it, he was not that attracted to you to begin with (and the relationship has no potential)! The Rules was co-authored by Sherrie Schneider and Ellen Fein.
3) Wheat Belly
This book revolutionized my health 9 years ago. It helped me drop around 30 pounds within a few months and keep it off for a very long time. Packed with eye-opening information about the food industry, it reiterates that the bread we are eating today is not the same bread that our parents ate. Instead, it is genetically modified poison, and it is probably what is making us all fat. By eliminating or, at the very least, minimizing sugar and wheat products, losing weight is far easier. It demonstrates that the best diet for human beings is one rich in lean meats, vegetables, and fruit (in moderation). This book was written by Dr. William Davis.
4) The Secret
Although I’m not fully decided on all the tenets of this book, I’ve included it on the list because it has truly revolutionized my appreciation of the power of positive thinking. This book proposes many intriguing metaphysical principles, including assertions that thoughts impact reality on a strictly material level. While I cannot attest to that on a scientific basis, I do believe, when we have a vision in our minds as to the life we crave, and we cling to that vision, we are subconsciously arranging our actions to align with that goal, thereby increasing our chances of bringing that dream into existence. What we think and speak does have profound implications upon our lives. Even the Bible argues this fact. What we fear most is what often appears in our lives, and this book demonstrates why that is the case. This book is written by Rhonda Byrne.
5) Rich Dad, Poor Dad
I’m ending this blog post with perhaps the most explosive book in the bunch – and the only finance book. We’ve all heard the conventional, often-parroted wisdom for all high school and college graduates. Go to college, graduate school, and beyond. Find a good company to work for. Save as if your life depended on it. Work hard so that you will have a lot of money when you retire, and then you’ll have money to burn during your 10-15 year retirement before you die. We’ve all heard it. Robert Kiyosaki (the author) shatters these cliches. He shares the secrets of the ultra-rich – the “rich dads.” Among the countless provocative revelations in his book, he contends that the rich buy assets, not liabilities. Liabilities are purchases that quickly depreciate in value – such as clothes, luxury cars, golf clubs, etc. Assets are purchases that continue to make money over time, such as rental properties, stock, bonds, or intellectual property (royalties). He has some fascinating critiques about education. He does not disparage college, but he believes that advanced education as a whole creates debt slaves (a fact!) and should encourage entrepreneurship. I only wish I’d read this book in my early 20’s. I would probably be a millionaire by now – but it’s never too late to apply these concepts!