Trendy non-fiction books of times gone by

[Frumpiness]

In the 90s and 2000s I read a few books that were popular at the time.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps

Several others of that type

If I read them again now I would probably find them ridiculous. Is there anyone here who’s reread them years later to see how they feel about them now?

non-Fiction in general, or Relationships/psychology?

Anyway, Freakonomics

I just cannot believe the amount of BS books I used to read.

I’ve never read Freakonomics though.

Everyone of my generation read The Joy of Sex.

Manwatching by Desmond Morris (1977). I was a bored young teenager! Goodness knows how that's fared when set against modern anthropology.

The Road Less Travelled
The Celestine Prophecy
The Bible Code

Don't think I'd be reading any of them today!

Ah yes, The Road Less Travelled. Someone leant that to me once. Any book described as a spontaneous act of generosity is probably going to be awful. I think I really liked it at the time but would probably hate it now.

I haven’t read The Bible Code but I remember it being very famous at the time with lots of articles being written about it.

The Female Eunuch - Germaine Greer.

Must look up the name of the Naomi Wolf one that was a feminist bible for a time.

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
Outliers - “

Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goldman

The Rules - Manipulative nonsense.

The Secret - what a triumph of marketing that was. Nothing new in it.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The Ascent of Man
Joy of Sex
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Arthur C Clark’s Mysterious World

Ah, you see, a lot of what was in The Rules was actually common sense - it was just written in a twee, North American way. A huge chunk of it was a proxy for how someone would act if they had really high self esteem.

Changing genre:

That Andrew Norton book, Diana: Her True Story

Spare - I can’t imagine anyone is reading this now.

Just the pictures.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.
I feel a lot of the advice is still relevant, including the advice to try to pay attention to all aspects of your life so you'll don't have all your eggs in one basket.

Why does he for that?
Lundy Bancroft

The Lundy Bancroft book is a good book though.

Absolutely. I own and frequently recommend it. It lays out very clearly the patterns of coercion that men use

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management

Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady was big in the 80s
Also that one where it was supposed to lead you to find a golden hare, I guess that was non fiction because ultimately it was a puzzle book.
I hesitate to describe it as non fiction, but Chariots of the Gods and its sequels

Do you mean books that were largely bollocks or discredited?

48 Laws of Power
Guns, Germs & Steel
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus
The End of History
Clash of Civilizations
The Secret

Definitely the joy of sex; no home was without it! As a teenager, I guess I was like most kids and sneaked a look when my parents were out!

I bought this but never read past the first chapter so I remain in a shambles.

Who Moved my Cheese?
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

No Logo!

Most likely The Beauty Myth. Her other books didn't sell as well and got increasingly more bonkers

Most purchased but least read has to be A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

He's Just Not That Into You, and other US relationship books that assumed what all women want is to get married.

The Little Book of Calm

A Year In Provence

Captain Tom's various books