Granted, reading a book that coaches you on how to reject self-help is like downing a shot of Patr\u00f3n to get the nerve to stop drinking. But it appears to be working. Both \u201cA Counterintuitive Guide to Living a Good Life,\u201d by Mark Manson, and Sarah Knight\u2019s \u201cHow to Stop Spending Time You Don\u2019t Have With People You Don\u2019t Like Doing Things You Don\u2019t Want to Do\u201d were best sellers. (Those are the subtitles. The titles use a pointedly vulgar phrase synonymous with \u201cnot caring one bit.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Now comes one of the better-written entries in the genre, \u201cStand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze,\u201d which made its author, Svend Brinkmann, a psychology professor in Denmark, a media star there.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur secular age is shot through with fundamental existential uncertainty and angst, and this makes it difficult to stand firm,\u201d writes the erudite Mr. Brinkmann, who, compared with his profane and jokey American colleagues, is the Max von Sydow character in this Woody Allen movie. Mr. Brinkmann\u2019s book, like Mr. Manson\u2019s, takes the stand that life is hard and you\u2019re not special, so instead of focusing on shallow quantities like happiness or success as defined by others in our culture of constant acceleration, you should acknowledge your limitations and learn to love your morning bowl of pebbles.<\/p>\n