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Public Pedagogy, Private Lives

Self-help literature has become an important domain of adult learning in North America. Self-help books offer readers advice on how to take charge of their lives and achieve goals such as prosperity, love, happiness, wellness, and self-actualization. Despite the popularity of self-help books, there has been little research about them from scholars of adult education. Furthermore, existing literature has tended to be speculative rather than empirical: few studies have assessed learning processes and other subjective outcomes among those who read self-help books. Through presenting results of qualitative interviews with female readers of self-help books, this article demonstrates how informal adult learning takes place through interaction with products of popular culture. The article argues that self-help reading should be included in the study of public pedagogy and that further empirical work is needed to understand the impact of reading such books, among other experiences of popular culture, on adults.