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The most life-changing books, statistically - by Joe Hovde

residualthoughts.substack.com · 1,433 words · saved by 1 readers

Three years ago, the CEO of Stripe tweeted about his friends curing their chronic back pain using Healing Back Pain, a controversial book from 1991. The book’s thesis is that a lot of physical pain is caused by repressed emotion, and that simply recognizing this connection can dramatically reduce the pain. The co-founder of tech startup Thumbtack chimed in that his debilitating pain was cured just by reading the book’s reviews: Can a book really do that? Can a book’s Amazon reviews really do that? I don’t have much back pain these days, so I can’t personally test it (but if you do, please at least read its reviews and let me know). It’s a seductive idea, that you can read a book and it will change the course of your life. I have found it to almost never be the case. Mostly my life bends with the ideas in the book I’m reading and then continues on its previous trajectory. But it’s fun to explore books like these that had a profound impact on somebody. It feels like unmapped territory, a

The most life-changing books, statistically Sifting through the self-help section for hidden knowledge Joe Hovde Oct 17, 2025 1,481 248 126 Share Three years ago, the CEO of Stripe tweeted about his friends curing their chronic back pain using Healing Back Pain, a controversial book from 1991 . The book’s thesis is that a lot of physical pain is caused by repressed emotion, and that simply recognizing this connection can dramatically reduce the pain. The co-founder of tech startup Thumbtack chimed in that his debilitating pain was cured just by reading the book’s reviews: I suppose there are m

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