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MAKING MY PEACE … with the most popular self-help books in 2024

Book trends of last year …

Jan 23

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In 2024, the Amazon book market experienced the following notable trends in reader interests in self-help books.

Popular topics and themes included mental health, personal development, mindfulness, and building personal resilience.

Mental health and emotional well-being books addressing mental health challenges, such as anxiety and stress, gained prominence. For example, Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 The Anxious Generation How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illnesstopped bestseller lists. Written mainly for parents, it sets out a plan for a healthier childhood in an era of smartphones, social media, and rapidly evolving and intrusive technology.

Personal development and books about habit formations continue to resonate with readers, especially those offering strategies for managing routines in daily life. For example, James Clear’s 2018 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Oneswas popular for its emphasis on the power of small, consistent changes, rating in the top ten of self-management self-help ebooks.

Mindfulness and acceptance books show a shift towards people’s interest in accepting imperfection and finding contentment. For example, Oliver Burkeman’s 2024 Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts critiques the relentless pursuit of self-improvement, advocating for acceptance of one’s limitations.

Building personal resilience and managing tough times continued to be a popular theme in 2024. For example, the 2020 book The Mental Toughness Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Facing Life’s Challenges, Managing Negative Emotions, and Overcoming Adversity with Courage and Poise by Damon Zahariades was an Amazon bestseller and still tops the charts in the “compulsive behaviour” category (affiliate link for this book). Zahariades focuses on managing emotions and self-doubt, not eliminating them.

Making my peace with the most popular self-help books in 2024, I will do the following:

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Note: I have an affiliate link for Amazon for some books on this list.