Sociologist Albert Amao Soria analyzes the accuracy of self-help and positive-thinking claims in this groundbreaking–and wholly unexpected–exploration of what works, what doesn’t, and why.
Contrary to the critics who blithely dismiss self-help methods, or the New Age gurus who sell it them as miracles, Amao–writing with sobriety, scholarship, and drawing on deep personal experience–explores the conditions under which self-help is authentic.