''Help Yourself: Finding Hope, Courage, and Happiness'' is a 2000

self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-i ...

by American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

Dave Pelzer David James Pelzer (born December 29, 1960) is an American author of several autobiographical and self-help books. His 1995 memoir of childhood abuse, ''A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive'', was listed on ''The New York Times'' ...

. It is the fourth book that Pelzer has written prior to '' The Privilege of Youth'' which continues the "Child Called "It" series.

Content

In the book, Pelzer discusses the path to the accomplishment of life's goals. He explains how anyone can move beyond a painful past full of negativity and setbacks, recalling struggles from his own life and that of others. The last paragraph of this book contains the following: "I beg of you to take this with you always: Help Yourself...to a life you are not only capable of living, but one you are worthy of living."

Reception

Jack Canfield Jack Canfield (born August 19, 1944) is an American author and motivational speaker. He is the co-author of the '' Chicken Soup for the Soul'' series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in print in over 40 languages. In 2005 ...

, coauthor of ''

Chicken Soup for the Soul Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC is an American self-help and consumer goods company based in Cos Cob, Connecticut. It is known for the ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' book series. The first book, like most subsequent titles in the series, consisted ...

'', says that this book shows "a living example that all of us have the capability to better ourselves no matter what the odds... Dave Pelzer inspires us all." A book review at ''circlesoflight.com'' blog praised ''Help Yourself'''s simplicity, stating that "unlike many self-help works, this book is written on a level that anyone with 7th or 8th grade reading ability can benefit from it." It also mentions, though, that the book can apply just as well to a person with a higher reading aptitude.

References

2000 non-fiction books Self-help books {{self-book-stub