The answer to whether self-improvement books are helpful and if you can apply what you read or not is: it depends.
For a long time in the world knowledge has been passed onto other people through the written word. That was a huge accomplishment because before someone invented a way of writing things down with the idea that others could then gain access to those ideas, all knowledge was passed on orally.
So for millennia, book shave been the much preferred way of sharing knowledge. That was their purpose and they did it well. In fact, books have been so successful as a medium of communication that measures of literacy became equated with the success of entire cultures and countries.
In short, self-improvement books can be very effective and very helpful.
The answer to the other part of the question, if you can actually apply those ideas to your own life is also: it depends.
The biggest variable is the quality of the book. Just because a book is labelled as self-improvement does not mean it is written well. In fact, there are many books that are almost indecipherable because they don’t track in a logical way through the entire book. They skip around, jump from idea to idea, don’t include exercises to help you gain understanding from the concept presented and sometimes are nothing more than promotional ideas to get you to commit to higher priced product in the writer’s product suite.
Well written self-improvement books have a specific strategy that is spelled out in the beginning of the book. This is so the reader can make sense of what might be a new set of ideas and then incorporate those ideas into his or her own life.
This is done all the time; there is no issue with applying the ideas. It is really a matter of how well the author has done at making those ideas comprehensible and accessible.
People often change their lives after reading books; it has been that way for centuries. You do need to be able to comprehend the language of the book and its purpose. Not meaning language like English, or German or Mandarin, but the language the book uses to convey the ideas.
It’s not really hard to do that, you just need some confidence that you can.
The best bet is to try a couple of books out and see if they make sense to you and if you can apply the ideas presented. It’s good to read a book that presents ideas a little beyond where you are right now in your self-improvement journey; so that you have to stretch a little to understand and apply the ideas.
And when you do, your life will change much for the better.
Source - Quora
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