Empaths unwillingly, unwittingly absorb, intuit and feel other people's emotions -- from joy to misery -- by as-yet-unknown means. Neurobiology? Vibrations? Electromagneticism? ESP? Are some of us ...

Joanna Pozzulo receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Carleton University provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA. Carleton University ...

To understand modern self-help books, open “Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm”. The sequel to “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”—and no doubt the prequel to ...

The best self-help books don’t promise to “completely change your life” overnight. Instead, a truly great one—written by someone who knows their stuff—will gently nudge you towards small shifts that ...

In a 1954 New Yorker essay “Howtoism,” writer and critic Dwight Macdonald states that authors of how-to books are to other authors as frogs are to mammals, and encourages people to read other genres.

Self-help has existed in some form since the dawn of human civilization and has grown into a robust industrial complex. But does self-help really make us better people? New year, new you. As we wrap ...

If you’re a reader, and you’re on Instagram, chances are the algorithm has fed you posts promising that “this book will change your life” or touting “five books that made me successful.” These claims ...