The folly of self-help books!

"For example, they [self-help books] may promise to make you happy. That’s all very well, but happiness isn’t everything and if you make its pursuit your main concern you are unlikely to get it. They may promise you success, but they may focus only on visible success, whereas real success is about inner development. They may promise too much too easily, ignoring the fact that becoming is a kind of struggle. (Though not necessarily always an unpleasant struggle.) They may present self-improvement as a means to an end – recognition, admirers and sunny smiles – whereas it should really be an end in itself. They may promise you can have it all, whereas life inevitably requires hard choices and trade-offs. For instance, one cannot become both a great explorer and the ideal parent. This is not to criticize people who go off adventuring and leave their children in the care of others, since that may well be the best available option for all concerned. It is merely to point out what should be obvious: that making that choice means giving up a good deal of parenting and so is incompatible with the goal of being as good a parent as possible."