Salerno goes deep inside the self help and Actualization Movement (fittingly, the words form the acronym SHAM) to offer the first serious expose of this multibillion-dollar industry and the real damage it is doing - not just to its paying customers but to all of society. Based on the author's investigative reporting - and the inside look at the industry he got while working at a leading "lifestyle" publisher - SHAM shows how thinly credentialed "experts" now dispense worthless or even counterproductive advice on everything from mental health to relationships to diet to personal finance to business strategy. Americans alone spend upwards of $8 billion every year on self-help programmes and products. And those staggering financial costs are actually the least of our worries.