Comment by _RPL5_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by _RPL5_ | Hacker News Reader

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Here is a list of 200 most popular books sold at Ozon, the biggest on-line retailer in Russia:

https://www.ozon.ru/highlight/top-200-knig-po-mneniyu-chitat...

Of the Top-12, 6 to 8 are some form of a self-help book:

* 1st: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck.

2nd: Say Yes To Life, a self-help book from an Austrian Holocaust surviver.

* 4th: Ben Graham's Intelligent Investor.

* 5th: A Russian-author book on the art of "convincing" & "influencing" people (sound familiar?).

* 6th: Another American book, "Radical Forgiveness: A Guide to Spiritual Healing"

* 8th: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

* 11th: Women Who Love Too Much: If Love is Causing Suffering. Also a US book.

* 12th: Atlas Shrugged. I suppose it's not a self-help book, but it's very much in line with the spirit of "open-your-eyes" literature.

* If you go down the list, there is a bunch of other titles like Rich Dad Poor Dad, the full set of Nassim Taleb's quasi self-improvement books, etc.

We can sort of argue whether some of these books are self-help adjacent or not (like Ben Graham or Nassim Taleb), but the trend is clear: self-improvement literature is very popular in Russia.

This shows that the self-help cottage industry is not limited to the US. I think people just like the idea of self-improvement.

edit: formatting

Agreed. Just last year The Economist had a short article on the popularity of self-help books in China[0]. It's estimated almost a third of all books sold in the country are self-help books.

If anything I would expect self-help to be more popular in less well-off countries, where there is perhaps more incentive to be hyper-competitive to try get ahead.

[0] https://www.economist.com/china/2020/11/12/why-self-help-boo...

A very American trait is to assume something is very American and doesn't apply elsewhere. Usually 'elsewhere' is just defined as a shallow understanding of Europe.

I think by making your comment you just committed the very error you think you're critiquing -- claiming that something common to humanity is a special attribute of Americans.

The more general truth is that: it is very human to have a myth about several attributes which are supposedly unique to your culture and less applicable to a shallow stereotype of the other countries your culture leads you to be most faniliar with. For the Chinese, the Japanese, Koreans, and Americans. For the Thais, the Laoatians and Americans. Etc. on and on. With these pairings there is always an accompanying list of the things that make US not be THEM, regardless of whether or not they're factual.

This! As someone who has spent years living in different countries when I see a criticism of US culture it tends be: 1) written by an America, 2) written by someone who clearly didn’t check if it’s an issue elsewhere.

It comes across as incredibly insular.

Usually Europe for Americans is France. And maybe Germany.

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