Guru Ratings
Maxwell Maltz
Bad.
Remember my ratings criteria. I’m not judging these gurus on “global” or moral values, but very specific criteria. Many of my favorite books would be rated “bad” by my criteria for self-help (probably, because they are not self-help books). My ratings don’t reflect how well an author met his own goals, but how well they met my criteria for useful, accurate self-help.
Avoid New Psycho-Cybernetics, a bloated update to Maltz’s trim, original Psycho-Cybernetics.
Psycho-Cybernetics (1960)
It is very hard to find a negative review of this book. I am happy to offer one here.
Maltz basically says to accept yourself, change your thoughts, and use rational thinking to conquer self-doubt. That’s fine. But he presents this strategy as a bad combination of cognitive therapy and cybernetics that corrupts both fields. It’s pseudoscience, and it’s often bad advice.
For example, Maltz says we shouldn’t read his book critically and that “telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition have been established by scientific laboratory experiments.” Um, no.
He also ignores the fact that many problems are not caused by thoughts or beliefs. Sometimes, saying “stop” to a thought or replacing it with positive imagery is actually harmful.
Psycho-Cybernetics is a motivational, deceptive self-help book written by a plastic surgeon.