SHAM: How the Gurus of the Self-help Movement Make Us Helpless [Paperback]

As someone who reads and listens to tapes by people like Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and Stephen Covey I was drawn to this book to see whether the self-help literature I was digesting was actually doing me any good. Steve Salerno argues that not only is the Self-Help and Actualization Movement (SHAM) not doing me any good, but that it is having a detrimental effect on society as a whole.

This book has not persuaded me to stop reading motivational literature, but it has given me tools to analyse the messages I am receiving more deeply. It had never occurred to me that self- help literature falls roughly into two categories: Victimisation, which sells you the idea that you are not responsible for what you do and Empowerment which says you are responsible for all you do - good or bad. These ideas are two side of the same coin, and it turns out neither is entirely true. I find it helpful to be aware of these concepts.

Various household names in the US are discussed in this book, many of whom I had not heard of being from the UK. I enjoyed hearing about characters such as Laura Schlessinger, Barbara De Angelis, Marianne Williamson and Suze Orman. The chapters about Anthony Robbins and Dr John Gray were interesting, providing a context for their writings. It is should be said that it is possible for ideas and concepts to be of use, even if those that preach such ideals do not always meet their own standards.

Salerno debunks the idea that tactics that work on the sports pitch are easily transferable to the boardroom. Elsewhere he suggests that people that have survived dangerous situations, such as nearly freezing to death on a mountain, are exactly the last sort of people you should take advice from. Equally he asks if convicted ex-conmen are the people who should be teaching a nation's youth about how to improve self esteem. The chapters covering SHAM's infiltration of America's schools, hospitals and courtrooms were interesting but less directly relevant to my life.

What Salerno is calling for is more rigorous thinking. He is saying you shouldn't believe something is true just because someone charismatic tells you so. Additionally just because you follow a certain 7 Steps, it doesn't guarantee a pre-described outcome. Life is not a level playing field. The idea that we can all be happy all the time is a false one. If self-help literature exists only to line the pockets of the people that write it then Salerno's book is a way to cut through the hype - and ironically might offer us the best chance of succeeding in life. Salerno is thorough, without ever been dull. He is humorous, without ever being flippant. You should buy this book if you have read any self-help literature, or if you want to understand why US society is in the state it is.

Rivetting to begin with in this book Steve Salerno lays into the self help gurus with a vengeance. He is particularly good at exposing the superficiality of the ideas that many of these people disseminate and the hypocrisy that appears to lie behind so much of SHAM. However about half way through the book I started to feel that he was repeating himself and though he says he is not suggesting that SHAM lies behind all the ills besetting US society sometimes I got the distinct impression that that was in fact exactly what he was doing. Examining (though never in any great depth) many possible areas of concern, the common denominator is always SHAM and he rarely hints that there might be other reasons why these problems exist. I am not an apologist for SHAM and I found the book illuminating and thought provoking in many ways, I just don't think SHAM has the diabolical influence he seems to think it has. There are plenty of other influences just as if not more powerful than the self help movement, Hollywood, TV, political propaganda, consumerism,the huge power and influence of national and multinational corporations etc all may have been touched by SHAM but which came first I ask myself?

In addition his use of statistics starts to wear thin midbook and I would like to know the agendas of some those he quotes. There is no bibliography in this book only an index and notes.

Finally (and thankfully you may say) I find some of his pronouncements weaken his core argument. Just three examples: he covers SHAM's alleged influence on changes in attitude to mental health policy in just one paragraph citing one specific example. Hardly overwhelming evidence for SHAM's insidious infiltration. Second, he lumps post traumatic stress syndrome and battered wife syndrome in with several other of the more 'dubious dysfunctions' as he describes them. Admittedly he is making the point that the syndromes he describes are used extensively as defenses in courtrooms across the US,but the way that he makes the point seems to me to trivialise these very real conditions. Mr Salerno and I may well disagree about whether they are real or not. However, in the earlier less 'enlightened' times PTSD was termed shell shock and for a while no-one on the WW1 battlefront believed it existed either so desperately sick men were sent back to the awful prospect of frontline duty. Thirdly he states that it took the events of 9/11 'to reassert the legitimacy of aggression' in the US, moving the nation to stop 'feeling the pain' but instead to start thinking about 'inflicting it, when appropriate'(In the wake of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and the ghastly situation in Iraq I found this a particularly chilling statement). How can you rail against the harm that SHAM has allegedly inflicted then applaud this type of response? I believe this type of reasoning has weakened not strengthened his argument.

An interesting book with some good points but the arguments are inconclusive and not always well made I'd say.

This should be compulsory reading for all readers and sellers of Self Help books. It provides a critical view of the tactics and methods used by many of the established self help gurus in the world today.

The Author tried to present his point of view as unbiased, but it clearly is when you look closely at his arguments which often are simply an attack on the person using selective third hand anecdotal sources rather than sticking to the evidence. I feel he has the right message but instead of sticking to the facts has adopted a journalistic approach that has both simplified the subject to a low level then used the same simplifications to generalise about the whole movement, this leaves his good arguments open to attack and provides his self help opponents with an easy escape route.

The idea of the book is sound and I think his criticism is probably sound, but because of the style of the book is designed to appeal to the general reader without evidence he commits the very sin he is accusing the self help movement of committing namely providing platitudes with no evidence.

None the less, this type of book is badly needed and should be read, however, we need more like it with better researched arguments if we are to put the charlatans and snake oil merchants out of business.

Good Read, a Great start and I do recommend it.