If you think I have chosen a strange title, I have a reason.
This morning I was checking out titles on Amazon books that contained the word “Happiness.”
There are 72,331 books with the word happiness in their title. Of course, there
are probably some with other versions of the word, but that really doesn’t
matter. My point will become clear once I continue.
I then decided to look up the word “Depression.” My point
being, if one is not happy they might be depressed. I found 36,499. Does this
mean there are more people who are seeking happiness than those who feel
depressed? I don’t think so.
No, I think what this means is that there are nearly twice
as many people who are not blaming their lack of happiness on depression. The readers of these books realize they may
be suffering from discontentment, loneliness or any other emotion rather than
labeling it as a chemical imbalance.
Ah, but does that mean people are reading these books. To
figure that out I’d have to go through all the titles and look at their sales
records, or just look at their reviews. Guess what I’m not going to do. That is
because what I believe is that the writers of these books have given thought to
the need before writing the books. Why would they write a book no one needs or
wants to read?
I took my search a step further and looked up titles that
contained the word “Love.” Wow! What a difference in the numbers. The number of
those was a walloping 487,630. Should I have been surprised? Are there that
many people who feel unloved? I don’t mean almost a half million people. No, it
would mean many more. At least one of those books probably has sold several
thousand copies, while most have probably sold at least one. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess at the combined
total sales of these books.
Books about love range from marriage improvement to family
relationships. They also include books about people looking for love. That
might explain the large number of sites offering a way to find the perfect
mate. Or, in some cases, the large number of people finding love on social
media.
I guess the point of this blog today is that I have read
about most of these subjects at various times doing research for articles and
stories. I have found some writers that I particularly like and have found to
be highly regarded in their field. Today I want to share some of them with you.
Why now, during one of the most joyous seasons? A time when
we should all be spreading love.
I will tell you why. Because we don’t always reach the ones
who need it most. And sometimes we are just so busy we neglect to remember
there are people who are not. People who are lonely or feel forgotten.
Nothing takes the place of a one on one relationship of
caring. However, sometimes that is not possible, or not enough. That is the
reason I’m sharing my list. Maybe you
know someone who could use an uplifting read. Or, a self-help book.
Here are my choices:
