Our lives are encompassed by sound. The empowering presence of our auditory environment is inescapable, permeating every facet of our daily routines and influencing our behaviors in ways we never ...

When you confess you’re in a mild funk, every so often a confidante will say something like, “It sounds silly, but this self-help book really worked for me.” Your friend might even give you her copy.

Any book can be a self-help book, depending on how it’s read. Political pamphlets, epic poems, and contemporary novels can all offer insight into how to live—or how not to. But the self-help genre is ...