BE BETTER, OR AT LEAST TRY: BEST SELF-HELP BOOKS

It’s tough to resist rolling your eyes at the selfhelp section in bookstores: big words, broad promises and Richard Branson grinning down at you from the top shelf ’s bestseller list. The simple fact of self-help books is that, at very best, they’ll only help you get halfway to where you want to be. It’s a genre that leans heavily on the tall order of human change, and the advice you read is only as good as how you’re able to apply it. So here are a couple books that could make you better, maybe, but at the very least, they’ll encourage you to try.

What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

In case your eyeballs hadn’t already plip-plopped out of your head and rolled halfway through the kitchen by now, yes, we’re recommending a book by Oprah. A first-name-only, modern-day effigy of sorts, sure, but you can’t doubt that the woman has lived. And besides, there’s something homey in the way she writes comforting, point-blank platitudes about life hacks. It’s inspiring enough to prompt you to try making a hack of it too. Pick it up, put it down and impress friends by spouting the big O’s best at your next weekend BBQ .

Baseball Life Advice: Loving the Game That Saved Me by Stacey May Fowles

As much an ode to baseball as it is a declaration of all that the salve sport can offer, Fowles’ first book of essays is a collection of stories about how, indeed, Fowles loves the game that saved her; offering a real-life account of overcoming inner battles. Celebrating someone else’s personal triumphs can be a surprising way of learning more about yourself, too, a practical handbook for how one person did it, does it and plans to keep trying to do it.