In our very first episode, as we ramble and ease into this medium, we talk about the genre of self-help, using a few of the most popular books as catalysts for our conversation. What is the underlying narrative in this genre? What does it tell us about ourselves as individuals and as a culture? Do self-help books give readers what they’re really searching for?

From the episode:

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Wherever You Go, There You Are  by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Why the Self is Empty: Toward a Historically Situated Psychology by Philip Cushman

Here is a place of disaffection… / …Only a flicker / Over the strained time-ridden faces / Distracted from distraction by distraction / Filled with fancies and empty of meaning / Tumid apathy with no concentration / Men and bits of paper, whirled by the cold wind / That blows before and after time – T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets