The One You Feed

020: Jessica Lamb Shapiro

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This week on The One You Feed we have Jessica Lamb-Shapiro.

Jessica Lamb-Shapiro is the author of the book Promise Land: My Journey through America's Self-Help Culture. Jessica Lamb-Shapiro has published fiction and nonfiction in The Believer, McSweeney's, Open City, and Index magazine, among others. She has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and is a graduate of Brown (BA) and Columbia (MFA).

We loved the great writing, the honest look at self-help, and the insights that she delivers. This was a really fun conversation that left us with a lot to think about.

In This Interview Jessica and I Discuss...
  • The One You Feed parable.
  • How positive thinking can become denial.
  • The history of self-help stretching back to ancient Egypt.
  • Using self-help terminology to avoid emotional intimacy.
  • Challenges with the Law of Attraction.
  • The paradox of self improvement: When should you accept yourself and when should you try to change.
  • When is acceptance the right course and when is it settling?
  • How cliches can become meaningless but yet still contain so much truth.
  • Finally being able to talk about her mothers suicide.
  • Growing up with a self-help author as a father.
    • Jessica Lamb-Shapiro Links

    Jessica Lamb-Shapiro Homepage

    Buy Promise Land: My Journey through America's Self-Help Culture

    Jessica on Twitter

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