Okay, so the thing about books that tell you what to do is that I a) can’t handle them as recommendations because I bristle and b) can’t usually handle them because I bristle.
I didn’t know this was a self-help book until I started it, at which point they had already sold me on it being a helpful one because they took seriously things like “patriarchy rigs the game and just wait if you have other axes of oppression!” Which was so gosh-darned novel and reasonable that I was willing to go with it.
I so appreciated this book for actually explaining why recommendations work, for offering a wide-range of ways to work on oneself, for being so validating, and for just generally feeling like it was written by a bunch of extremely helpful humans who love the same media I do.
It was sage advice at a very good time and, while I don’t recommend self help books unless asked for recommendations (see above about the bristling), if you ARE looking for one, this one spoke to me.