Best self-help books: six that earn their length

The picks

1. 1.

   Feeling Good by David D. Burns

   Best for low mood, using cognitive therapy techniquesNot listed on Open Library; check your library or a bookstore

   A popular book on cognitive therapy for depression. In a small randomized trial in primary care, 38 patients were randomly assigned to usual care or to a prescription to read this book. Both groups reported fewer depression symptoms, and the authors concluded that the prescription may be as effective as standard care.

   Good

   • The only pick here with a randomized trial of the book itself
   • Teaches techniques you can practice, not only ideas
   • Open Library lists 22 editions of the work

   Watch out for

   • The trial was small, and with no group that got nothing it cannot show how much the book itself helped
   • Longest on the list, about 416 pages
   • Not a substitute for care if your mood is severe

2. 2.

   Atomic Habits by James Clear

   Best for building a habit or dropping oneNot listed on Open Library; check your library or a bookstore

   A practical framework for forming good habits and breaking bad ones through small, repeatable changes. Habit research supports the basic idea that repetition in a steady setting builds automatic behavior, though it also shows the timeline varies a lot from person to person.

   Good

   • Concrete steps you can start the same day
   • Fits the research that habits form through repetition in a stable setting
   • About 323 pages, a medium read

   Watch out for

   • We found no trial of the book itself
   • Habit research finds wide variation, so no fixed number of days is safe to promise

3. 3.

   Deep Work by Cal Newport

   Best for focus on demanding work in a distracted dayNot listed on Open Library; check your library or a bookstore

   Argues that the ability to focus without distraction on a demanding task is valuable and rare, and gives rules for protecting it. Research on heavy media multitaskers, who did worse at filtering out irrelevant information, fits the concern but does not test the book's rules.

   Good

   • A clear single skill and a clear way to practice it
   • Shorter than most, about 303 pages

   Watch out for

   • Open Library files it under business and time management, so it may fit desk work best
   • The central claims rest on argument and examples, not a trial of the method

4. 4.

   Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

   Best for a hard season, and finding meaning in sufferingNot listed on Open Library; check your library or a bookstore

   A psychiatrist's memoir of the Nazi camps. Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but can choose how to face it and find meaning in it. It is the shortest book on the list and a reflection more than a method.

   Good

   • Short, about 165 pages in the median edition
   • Open Library lists 111 editions, so it is easy to find

   Watch out for

   • A memoir, so there are no exercises or measured results
   • Heavy subject matter

5. 5.

   How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

   Best for everyday people skills at work and at homeNot listed on Open Library; check your library or a bookstore

   A classic first published in 1936 with short, concrete rules for dealing with people. The publisher's description on Open Library says it has sold more than 15 million copies. Its advice is common-sense conduct, and it should be read as such.

   Good

   • Short chapters and practical rules
   • Open Library lists 188 editions

   Watch out for

   • The sources we checked include no trial of the book
   • Written in 1936, so some examples feel dated

6. 6.

   Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

   Best for thinking about effort and learning, read with cautionNot listed on Open Library; check your library or a bookstore

   Argues that believing abilities can grow with effort shapes how people learn and cope with failure. A large 2018 pair of meta-analyses found the overall effects of growth mindset on academic achievement to be weak, with some support for benefits among students from low-income families or at academic risk.

   Good

   • Easy to read, about 288 pages
   • A useful lens on how you talk about effort

   Watch out for

   • Meta-analyses found weak overall effects of mindset and of mindset interventions
   • Easy to over-apply to every problem

How we chose: We ranked books on four criteria: whether the book addresses one clear problem, how strong the evidence is that we could check in published research on the book or its core idea, length from the median page count on Open Library, and whether many editions are available. Research notes come from PubMed records of a randomized trial, two meta-analyses and a habit-formation paper. Prices are not listed on Open Library, so none are given. IQumi is made by Lucernel, the publisher of this page, and is not one of the picks, because it is an app and not a book.