Self-help books are usually so much slop, but I’m not opposed to them provided they’re not injurious–maybe some morsel of enlightenment will reach someone. Perhaps it will be a lesson that seems obvious to some, but different people have different blind spots. And before the Internet and its overflow of information recently arrived, there was a real dearth of accessible knowledge.

Cosmetic surgeon/self-help guru Maxwell Maltz’s 1960 book, Psycho-Cybernetics: A New Way To Get More Living Out of Life, was power-of-positive-thinking hooey, although it was important that the doctor stressed that getting noses altered or butts lifted wouldn’t necessarily improve anyone’s self-image.

An ur-infomercial for Psycho-Cybernetics: