The self-help paradox.
The multibillion dollar industry is built on convincing us there's something wrong that we need to fix. Convincing us that we are not enough. If we were good enough, we wouldn't need any self-help, would we?
So books written in the genre typically start by convincing us that our potential is untapped. That we simply need to apply the __ steps that follow so we too can live better lives. It's no unlike the diet industry - instead of weight, it's our potential as human beings.
I'm not saying there's not some great info in many of those books, and I still read a lot of non-fiction that would fall into the self-help/personal transformation category because I'm a seeker.