I know PC games aren't the best source of an era's pop culture, but I've played quite a few PC games from the early-mid 90s where ''self help books'' are alluded to. Were self help books popular in the 90s? If so, what started the trend and what were some of the leading titles in that field?

yes they were. I worked at Barnes and Noble and they were huge. I'm not sure why.... talk shows certainly helped the push with both Oprah  and Phil battling out as the king and queen of talk there were a lot of self help gurus on the shows 5 days a week and all of them were selling books.  I don't know how influential Phil was but I can tell you first hand... in the 90s, if oprah mentioned a book on her show we got calls about it the minute the show went off the air... any book oprah mentioned would sell out before closing on the day she had that author on her show...I'm not talking Oprah's book club. this was not fiction (tho oprah did more for the sales of Bridges of Madison County than anyone)  No, if Oprah had Depak Chopra on then the book he was talking about was gone that day and sometimes all his other books would fly off the shelf too...

It was crazy.... publishers started getting smart tho. It took a while but ultimately they began to send bookstores letters letting them know their author was going to be on Oprah so we could prepare for the influx of requests.

The earliest "self-help" books for the general public date back to the 19th century with Samuel Smiles' book "Self-Help" (1859).   Dale Carnegie's best-sellers, such as "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (1937) and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" (1948).  These books are still in print, though they seem dated and hokey.  There is still some sound advice in Carnegie's books.  Unfortunately, Carnegie's ideas have been abused by the PR industry to the point where anybody who quotes them sounds like a conman.

Carnegie's contemporary, Napoleon Hill, published "Think and Grow Rich" in 1937.  This is utter pablum.

Before the 20th century people turned to religion and philosophy for guidance.

One of the most popular self-help books in the 1990s was Stephen R. Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" (1989).  Another was "Women Who Love Too Much" by Robin Norwood.  This one was actually published in 1985, but remained popular throughout the 1990s.  How about Richard Carlson's 1997 book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff -- And It's All Small Stuff."  There's always Deepak Chopra "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" from 1994 or Wayne Dyer's "Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life" (1992).  Clarissa Pinkola Estes' "Women Who Run With The Wolves" (1992) was for girls while Robert Bly's "Iron John" (1990) was for boys!

Self-help books were popular before the 1990s and remain popular today.  I encourage all to look askance at them and get some Plato instead.
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"Chicken Soup for the _____ Soul" was a very popular book in the 90's.

The earliest "self-help" books for the general public date back to the 19th century with Samuel Smiles' book "Self-Help" (1859).   Dale Carnegie's best-sellers, such as "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (1937) and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" (1948).  These books are still in print, though they seem dated and hokey.  There is still some sound advice in Carnegie's books.  Unfortunately, Carnegie's ideas have been abused by the PR industry to the point where anybody who quotes them sounds like a conman.

Carnegie's contemporary, Napoleon Hill, published "Think and Grow Rich" in 1937.  This is utter pablum.

Before the 20th century people turned to religion and philosophy for guidance.

One of the most popular self-help books in the 1990s was Stephen R. Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" (1989).  Another was "Women Who Love Too Much" by Robin Norwood.  This one was actually published in 1985, but remained popular throughout the 1990s.  How about Richard Carlson's 1997 book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff -- And It's All Small Stuff."  There's always Deepak Chopra "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" from 1994 or Wayne Dyer's "Real Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life" (1992).  Clarissa Pinkola Estes' "Women Who Run With The Wolves" (1992) was for girls while Robert Bly's "Iron John" (1990) was for boys!

Self-help books were popular before the 1990s and remain popular today.  I encourage all to look askance at them and get some Plato instead.
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/12/icon_biggrin.gif



On a picture dated around 1953, there's a book on my grandparent's bookshelf called "The New Way to Relax"

"Chicken Soup for the _____ Soul" was a very popular book in the 90's.


Whoa, I nearly forgot about those books! :o

Self help in general was huge.  Tony Robbins was quite popular, still is apparently