This is an auction for SHAM: SELF-HELP & ACTUALIZATION MOVEMENT - HOW THE GURUS OF THE SELF-HELP MOVEMENT MAKE US HELPLESS, by Steve Salerno.

"You! Yes, you! Are you addicted to self-help books? Do you require "empowerment" to reverse your "victimhood"? If so, relax: you're far from alone. The Self-Help and Actualization Movement (the titular SHAM) is an $8-billion-a-year industry that depends on legions of repeat customers. Salerno presents a carefully researched and devastating expose of SHAM's predatory and fraudulent practices and its corrosive effects. As former editor of Men's Health magazine's books program, Salerno knows the terrain from the inside. With judicious delight, he exposes the grandiloquent bluster and blithe hypocrisy of Dr Phil (who, psychologists say, shames rather than helps his guests) and Dr Laura (the preacher of family values who didn't know when her own mother was murdered), among many others. He cites examples of junk science, such as Tony Robbins's talk of "the energy frequency of foods," and charges that untested alternative medicine draws people away from proven medical treatments. In addition to detailing the raw facts, Salerno excels at pinpointing the self-abnegating strategy the self-help industry employs: namely, tearing you down in the name of building you up. And the positivity yields questionable results in any case. The self-help industry should not be dismissed as "silly but benign," says Salerno, and he documents in this blistering critique how it has undermined psychology, education and health care."

• Publishers Weekly (US)

Very favourable reviews on Amazon.com.

Paperback 2005.

273 pages.

Near new condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95 (ordinary post) or $6.95 (tracked mail). If you are on rural delivery and want tracked mail, the shipping cost will be $9.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.