9 Best Self-Help Books for Improving Yourself

Dr. Ankit Sharma, PhD

Updated on:

Best Self-Help Books

Do you search for Best Self-Help Books often? Are you trying to embrace the process of personal development & self-improvement? If yes, that’s excellent, but the real question is: which book to choose?

There are perhaps thousands of self-help, self-growth, & personal development books. From biography to popular psychology, from developing your cognition & productivity to maintaining your relationships in a healthy approach: bookshelves of the 21st century are filled with authors trying to help each & every one of us with their insights, perspectives, knowledge, or research results.

Best Self-Help Books You Can Read

Best Self-Help Books

1. Name of The Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People

          Author :         Dale Carnegie

          Published in :        1936

You may not find a list of the Best Self-Help Books without this book somewhere. Dale Carnegie wrote it back in 1936, but it’s as precious today as ever. By reading this classic, you can learn valuable strategies to become more pleasant in all aspects of your life.

Unlike many thoughts at first, it’s not about creating a phony persona. It’s mainly about learning how to listen to others, how to comprehend their wants & needs, & how to make them feel respected. If you adapt these lessons, you will find that friends, jobs, & promotions are far easier to get.

2.  Name of The Book: Thinking Fast & Slow

          Author                 :         Daniel Kahneman

          Published in       :         2011

The author is a man every psychology student is familiar with from their textbooks, the winner of the Nobel prize in 2002 for the fantastic research he did on decision-making alone & with Amos Tversky, Daniel Kahneman is the creator of a new discipline: behavioral economics.

His research is very famous among the scientific community, as it inspired a multitude of future experiments & examinations of human apprehension. What makes this man unique is his effort to bring cognizable science to all of us, using language & storytelling everyone can easily understand.

Thinking Fast & Slow is a book of prose where the author explains how our thinking is divided into two systems: one fast & one slow.

The fast one is our hardwired instincts, the bits & pieces of our evolutionary past. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to take our hands off a fire or run away whenever we notice danger. It’s like our intuitive, not-so-rational, but still proficient mechanism. The other one is our evolutionary benefit. The self-reflexive, rational, intentional path. The cognizant path we have a lot of control over; however, it also demands a lot of effort & concentration, that why we are likely to use it less often.

3. Name of The Book: Think and Grow Rich

          Author                 :         Napoleon Hill

          Published in        :         1937

Despite the title, this one of the Top Self-Help Books is not only about making a bank balance big enough to make Richie Rich jealous. Although part of the book is dedicated to monetary wealth, the author wants you to be rich in ideas, too.

This is another classic self-improvement book from the 1930s, but it’s just as pertinent now as it was back then. The author spent almost 20 years studying the most successful & famous people of his time – including Henry Ford & Alexander Graham Bell – in research for this book. You can use his findings to attain what you want most in life, whether with a well-established bank balance or a richer mind.

4. Name of The Book: The Power of Positive Thinking

          Author                 :         Norman Vincent Peale

          Published in        :         1952

The author wrote this book back in 1952, & it’s still one of the Best Self-Help Books around. The chief message is simple: if you start to think positively, you will start to have positive results. That is because you are more likely to try harder, to reach further, & to aim bigger.

 Of course, it isn’t easy to attain a permanent optimistic attitude, but this book attempts to show you all the ways it can be worthwhile to do it. Thinking about your dreams & requirements is a powerful motivator to get you pushing yourself toward them.

5. Name of The Book: Man’s Search for Meaning

          Author                 :         Viktor E. Frankl

          Published in     :         1946

If there is a book, everyone must read during their lifetime. After spending three years in atrocious conditions of Nazi concentration camps, thinking that every day would be his last day, neurologist & psychiatrist Viktor Frankl explains in simple, sometimes even playful language that the search for meaning lies at the center of every human mind.

Due to his professional background, this book is more than a journal about surviving Holocaust. It’s also a psychological study & the base for creating a new school of thought & analysis: logotherapy.

The bottom line of this book is that if we can find meaning in life, we can move forward even after encountering the worst experiences imaginable. Inspirational, life-changing & eye-opening book truly it is.

6. Name of The Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

          Author                 :         Stephen R. Covey

          Published in        :         1989

You are probably familiar with this book. Released in 1989, this other classic is one of the most popular personal-development books. The author studied the past 250 years’ worth of self-help books & discovered that most of them paid attention to external “Personality Ethics” more than internal “Character Ethics.”

The real problem is that a good Character Ethics creates a good Personality Ethics, not the other way around. This book shows you the habits you must adopt to become more effective & thriving in the most genuine way possible. It is challenging, but the author offers practice exercises to make those changes happen.

7. Name of The Book: Sapiens

          Author                 :         Yuval Noah Harari

          Published in        :         2011

Do you ever wonder how humans evolved to become what they are today? What are the exact differences between us & other animals on the planet? Why are we the supreme species in today’s world?

In his bestselling book Sapiens, the author narrates the history of our species and offers impressive insights & in-depth perspectives on our behavior, habits, emotions, etc. He describes how we got where we are now, about animal exploitation, & why we aren’t happier than our ancestors. Through the use of colorful & understandable language, the author takes his readers on a memorable journey through the history of humankind.

8. Name of The Book: Awaken the Giant Within

          Author                 :         Tony Robbins

          Published in      :         1991

Tony Robbins is an immensely popular self-help guru with many books on the topic. This may be his best. This book narrates the primary lessons of self-mastery. You will be encouraged to discover your real purpose & take control of your life.

The author puts a lot of emphasis on steady actions, saying that what you do daily counts, not what you do at times. By following the guidance in this book, you can wake the giant within you & invite positive change in your life – regardless of what change you want.

9. Name of The Book: The Power of Now

          Author                 :         Eckhart Tolle

          Published in        :         1997

While most of the self-help books on this list focus on building a better future for yourself, this book encourages you to focus on the present. That’s where you will always find yourself at the end of the day.

The author believes that spending too much time living in the past or the future can cause regret, anxiety, & other negative emotions. By learning to welcome the present, you can reduce this suffering, enhance your emotional intelligence, & increase stronger compassion for the people around you. This book tells you how to do that.

Why Self-Help Books are Popular?

Self-help books are handy for learning valuable life skills that most of us never learned in educational institutes. Self-help books provide psycho-educational strategies to keep you interested in how to change. We all are aware of what we want to change – but the Best Self-Help Books provide tips on how to change.

They offer support & encouragement, sometimes that isn’t easy to find in our daily lives where some of us find ourselves running for grades, jobs, money, & reputation. Self-help books provide not only insights but offer insight into thinking patterns alone do not change things, particularly if habits are deeply embedded.

Leave a Comment