Self-help books are (very) often crap. But when they're good they really push your motivation. So you don't learn a lot because learning requires always doing and failing BUT usually you get some motivation and energy to try it again, start something over--better books know how to brain wash and reframe your mind for a few days. You get a very positive mindset and that's what you need to get out of your daily routine which wears you out. Some examples which gave me this motivation push: Poke the Box from Seth Godin, Millionaire's Upgrade, Ellen Cars Stop-smoking book and some more (the ratio of good to bad books ist as the OP said: 10 to 90 to even 5 to 95. And as I wrote the motivational push keeps usually a few days only but hey, that's often enough to start something new and get traction.
But somehow I am not sure if the post is a clever way to sell the promoted book ...
The post is a clever way to sell the Skeptics Stack Exchange site (and the referrer link in the Amazon link won't hurt either). Not that there's anything wrong with either of these things — the book sounds interesting and I wasn't aware of the Skeptics SE site so it's win/win for Atwood & I.
But somehow I am not sure if the post is a clever way to sell the promoted book ...