Yet more blog research:

What are your favorite books on personal development? These can be from any area of self-improvement: health and fitness, personal finance, communication, etc.

For example, I found that Feeling Good by David Burns really helped me when I was suffering from Depression. Also, a book called Understanding Nutrition (or something similar) was perfect when I needed to learn how food affected me.

What books -- fiction or non-fiction -- have helped you improve yourself?

I don't know if I'd call this a "self-help book" per se, but the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene is one of my personal favorites for personal development, understanding how your fellow coworker, boss, etc. tick. It's amazing how human nature never changes throughout human history, it's just a matter of the degree of ambition.

The one that started it all for me, and I think I've mentioned this before, is The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. Easy to read and, despite the author, should not conflict with anyone's particular faith.

I just finished Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness, mostly based on recommendations I think I've seen here. I found it to be much more "Why" than "How To" since the book is very light on practical advice. But sometimes just knowing what the obstacles are can help you find your own solutions, so I did enjoy the book and got something out of it.

Similarly, The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis is more about psychology than self-help, but I challenge anyone to read that and not see in themselves some of the good and bad relationships described therein. You have to know what's wrong before you can fix it.

Anti-Recommendation: Ben Stein's How To Ruin Your Life is too trite and sarcastic to be of much help to most of the people here, which is a compliment to the other members. It's merely amusing, at best.

I'm reading Gilbert's happiness book right now. I love it, but that's because I have a psych degree. You're right, though -- it's more why than how. I confess I didn't care for How to Ruin Your Life, either. I love Ben Stein, and bought this book on reader recommendation, but found it didn't work for me. It's in a stack of books I plan to give away at some point.

Not books, but the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are pretty inspiring. Especially when you consider that when they were written, nothing like what they accomplished had even been tried in the world.

Yep, even I like them (although I think that as inspiring documents, they've since been beaten by the UN declaration of human rights).

Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill. It covers all the aspects of life from health to happiness. There are so many techniques leading to personal power, satisfaction and self esteem. One should read more than 2 times to gather the insight of this book.

K Amber
Baby Steps To Extreme Mind Power
http://simplemindpower.com/blog/

How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. It is a great book on interpersonal relationships. The concepts can be applied just about everywhere - home, friendships, work, internet, etc. I read it while I was in the military and I learned a lot about dealing with the brass around me. I gave it to the troop I supervised after I read it. He loved it as well, and is now leading troops of his own. It was like passing on the torch before I moved on to a different way of life. *sigh*

"Nothing Down" by Robert G Allen discussing ways to buy real estate with little or no money down,, tactics not for the faint hearted but in some cases they do work .

Two of the books that I have found to be very informative and inspiring with regard to personal finance are the Total Money Makeover Rich Dad, Poor Dad. From a family perspective I have just started Strong Father, Strong Daughter and it holds a lot of promise.

Lol. I just posted about mine on another thread. My favorite is John Assaraf's Book:

Having it All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams.

The book is simply amazing. See his page for it here: http://www.johnassaraf.com/youcanhaveitall/

It was just released actually. He's also got two sample chapters from it at the following links:

‘The Laws of Earning Money’:
http://www.johnassaraf.com/blog/2007/11 ... ing-money/
‘Your Powerful Brain’:
http://www.johnassaraf.com/blog/2007/10 ... ful-brain/

And if you're skeptical about the Secret, do check out my initial thread where I posted about John's Book: I made a reply about a blog that was recently written by Bill Harris, one of the masters of the Secret, who has issues about how he was portrayed in the movie.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1013

I caution folks on Robert G Allen's works.

http://johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html#anchor496881

Hello,
My favorites are:
Think and Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill
Rich Dad, Poor Dad- Robert Kiyosaki
The Seven Secrets to Success- Jim Rohn
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day- Albert Bennett
The 4 Hour Work Week- Timothy Ferris

I'd add to the list the classic "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.

I think I am a personal development junkie - I cannot believe how many books I have and have actually read (and re-read)!

Here goes:
Having It All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams by John Assaraf (was The Street Kid's Guide to Having It All) My current favorite
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Turning Passions Into Profits by Chris Howard (my previous fav)
Ask and It Is Given by Esther & Jerry Hicks
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
You2 (squared) by Price Pritchett