"Psychocybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz

This book is profoundly good. Do not let the artificial sounding title put you off - it contains chapter after chapter of elegantly written guidance for living. It is evident in the writing that this is the result of not years but decades of observation by Maltz. The chapter on negative emotional habits is in itself worth the money. I bought the book to try to resolve 11 years of tension headaches. After reading the first chapter,

I stopped reading in order to try out some ideas. The headaches are improving, but almost as importantly, I have learnt so much more about myself. Not speculative, extrapolated ideas of the author, but the result of close observations of patients who were counseled before cosmetic surgery. In many cases, the intended facial surgery was canceled, to be replaced by surgery of attitude. I cannot recommend it highly enough.