Seven Must Read Self Help Books

I decided to take a break from financial blogging and decided to write on some thing else. As I mentioned earlier, this blog is for financially illiterate people, and to keep them visiting, I should occasionally write about non financial topics.

This time I selected to write on books. What are my favorite books? If I include fictions also, it is a very difficult question. So, I exclude those and concentrate on self help books. You cannot be a successful man or woman by reading or copying ideas from these books. But, those books help you to see your life and problems in a different angle and brings in new ideas, which you never thought of before.

Here are my favorite Seven self help books. I deliberately mentioned "must read" to raise your curiosity. These are just my personal choice. You may have a different taste altogether.

1. THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Stephen R. Covey

This is a book, which does not need any introduction. First published in 1989 and sold out more than 25 million copies, I believe most of you already read this book. If not, don't waste time, grab one and read it.








2. NOW, DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS by  Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton

This is a book, which triggered a paradigm shift for me. I believed I can ignore my strengths and need to improve my weakness for a successful living, until I read this book. But when I read this book, I realized that I need to work on my strengths rather than my weakness. For an example, just imagine in his childhood Sachin Tendulkar realized that bating is his strength and he needs to improve his bowling. If he ignored bating and tried to improve his bowling, would we have a bating genius now? Just read this book.



3. HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE by Dale Carnegie

 I am a big Carnegie fan, and I would recommend all books written by him. All his advises are simple, practical and effective. Read any one of his books, and I am sure you will agree with me.








4. RICH DAD POOR DAD by Robert Kiyosaki

My friends say whatever I talk to it will end up in finance. Here is the best finance book, I have ever read. The tag line "what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not" is enough to make you curious to read this book. I believe after this book, people used to use the term Rich to denote financially intelligent people.






5. YOU CAN NEGOTIATE ANY THING by Herb Cohen

Who will be winners in this world? People with greatest talent, dedication and education? This book says the winners are people who are not only competent, but also have the ability to negotiate. Learn the negotiation techniques from this book.




 





6. MEN ARE FROM MARS WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS by John Gray

This is a book I recommend to all married couples and people who plan to marry soon. We know men and women are different in their attitudes and behaviors. How different? The book answers this. By understanding the fundamental difference of genders, we can improve the relationships.







7. WHO MOVED MY CHEESE by Spencer Johnson

The less than 100 pages book, which can be read in one hour time, helps you to deal with change. When I first completed this book, I thought it says about things I already knew. In some of the situations where change is forced on me, which is similar to scenario described in this book, I adopted quickly and moved on. But I believe it is due to the nature of my profession. This book may be useful to thousands of other people. 

Do you have some other books to suggest? Please leave those names as comments.