47 reviews for:

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

Beth Lisick

3.22 AVERAGE

susanbrooks's review

3.0

I bought this book from the author herself at a local event where she was "reading". Which meant telling wonderful stories from her book and being her charming, funny, smart self. The book was hilarious and I love her self-deprecating sense of humor. I was expecting a bit more substance in the
analysis of her different self-help methods.

qtpieash3's review

2.0

Meh. Lisick is funny, but I found her complaints about money annoying, especially since on the front of this book it announced she's a NYT best-selling author.

Lisick embarks on a year-long project to sample some of the best-selling self-help programs tackling one a month. She does a month on Jack Canfield (of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame), Suze Orman, a weight-loss cruise with Richard Simmons, the guy who wrote the Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, and Stephen Covey (Seven Habits guy). She undertakes each with her snarky attitude intact, which is funny and kept the book from being a total bore. But her heart wasn't in it so it was a little lacking for me. I liked Lisick's writing style and sense of humor and would pick up another one by her. Overall, though, only ok for me.

nancf's review

3.0

The note/over title on the cover reads, “one skeptic, ten self-help gurus, and a year on the bring on the comfort zone.” This book documents Lisick’s year of self-help including Jack Canfield (The Success Principles), Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits…), Richard Simmons, John Gray (Men are from Mars…), Julie Morgenstern (Organizing from the Inside Out), Thomas W. Phelan (123 Magic…), Suze Orman, Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way), Deepak Chopra and Sylvia Browne. (Did I miss anyone?) Lisick reads the books and sometimes attends seminars with the selected gurus. Interspersed in the account are details of Lisick’s life. I have bought some of these books and sometimes even read these self-help gurus (and others). Like Lisick, I sometimes take something away from the experience, but nothing really life changing. At first, I didn’t like this book, but the more I got into it, I appreciated Lisick’s attitude and ultimate conclusions. A couple of quotes: From Stephen Covey discussing personality vs. character ethic in regards to his children: “We decided to relax and get out of his way and let his own personality emerge. We saw our natural role as being to affirm, joy and value him. We also conscientiously worked on our motives and cultivated internal sources of security so that our own feelings of worth were not dependent on our children’s “acceptable” behavior.” And from Beth Lisick: “ It seems like, at its best, self-help is probably supposed to remind us that we can be strong and in control, that we can do anything. The problem with this is that we are human. All we’re ever going to do is stumble around. Sometimes we hit the sweet spot, and the rest of the time we spend trying to unravel the formula for how to hit the next one.”

kllandwehr's review

4.0

Beth Lisick's life stresses me out, but her efforts to get things in order amused me. She and her husband (and child) seem to be living a rather hand-to-mouth existence, filled with chaos and confusion. Her humorous yet sincere efforts to explore different self-improvement approaches was strangely inspiring. I have no desire to read any of these books (okay, I've already read one, but I'm done now. And I did have my own equally nice encounter with Richard Simmons.), but I understand her desire to approach life differently and to try, occasionally, to quiet the cynical snarky voice inside many of us. But I'm glad she didn't completely silence it, because it was funny.

jenamiller's review

3.0

Read my review at http://bookaweekwithjen.blogspot.com/2007/12/book-14-of-52-helping-me-help-myself-by.html

lisawreading's review against another edition

3.0

Beth Lisick's "Helping Me Help Myself" falls into the growing category of "my year of xxx" books. You know, my year of cooking the entire cookbook, my year of following all the rules in the Bible, etc. In this case, the author wakes up one New Year's Day, decides her life isn't really going as well as she'd thought, and decides to devote the next year to improving herself by seeking out the top self-help expert in each of her problem areas. She spends a month on personal finance, a month on fitness, a month on creativity, and so on, invoking the works of John Gray, Suze Orman, Richard Simmons. The premise seems flawed from the start. It appears that the author can't decide whether she's actually bent on self-improvement, or simply looking for a new angle for poking fun. Her occasional revelations are mostly overshadowed by the ongoing snarkiness of the commentary. This is a fun read, most of the time, but I'm not sure what the author ultimately gained. Nice writing style with a sense of humor, but I wouldn't give this one a rave.

tyra_b's review

2.0

It was okay, but I was hoping for something more thought provoking than humor inducing

jrosenfeld50's review

4.0

So far, I'm laughing out loud!

luce219's review

3.0

Hilarious and lighthearted book... the author does a different "self-help" program each month, which include a Richard Simmons weight-loss cruise, financial seminars with Suze Orman, and reading/consultation from Stephen Covey (7habits...) and the Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus author. There were some great laugh-out-loud moments. I would give it 3.5 stars, but unfortunately they don't have 1/2 stars on this rating system!

bbckprpl's review against another edition

4.0

Different chapters devoted to different life changing goals: this book was interesting, and the author had a great voice. Just enough sarcasm and doubt to keep me involved.