Self-help is a multibillion dollar genre of books, and Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg of By the Book podcast have lived by the advice of more than eighty of them. They discuss the ways these books use language to get into your brain, the negging and the euphemisms, what can actually be helpful, and why we should be more like dog.

Content note: we discuss dieting and sizeism, and there are fleeting mentions of rape and abuse. There are also category A and B swears.

Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/self-help, where there's also a transcript.

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The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.

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• Dipsea, the app full of short, sexy stories. Dipsea is offering an extended 30 day free trial when you go to DipseaStories.com/allusionist.• Catan, the endlessly reconfigurable board game. Shop at catanshop.com/allusionist and get 10% off the original base game CATAN by using the promo code ALLUSIONIST at checkout. • Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a sleek website. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist. 

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