A witty, original tour of the billion-dollar self-help industry that explores our uniquely American devotion to self-improvement--even as the author attempts some deeply personal improvements of her own. "In writing this book I walked on hot coals, met a man making a weight-loss robot, joined a Healing Circle, and faced my debilitating fear of flying. Of all of these things, talking to my father about my mother's death was by far the hardest." The...