A look into self-help books and whether they are worth your time By First Officer Victoria Bottomley, Log Board member here is a long queue of academics and journalists waiting to tell you why self-help books are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. They either give bad advice or provide a placebo effect. Nevertheless, the lure of the genre remains. Even in a recession, people are still willing to fork out for self-help books and with catchy titles such as The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***, Unf*** Yourself, and Atomic Habits, it is no surprise. The genre is constantly adapting to the mood of its readers and, with the world being as it has been for the past few years, that mood is punctuated with expletives. So, are these books worth your time? Perhaps they just make you feel better, and arguably that is enough to prove their worth, but can they actually help you change the way you act and live? You might read the blurb and think, well this doesnt apply to me, I am already in a secure job and Im getting green ticks in all of my checks, and that may be so. But aviation is one culture short of a yoghurt factory, and prides itself on its learning culture, if only for the sake of its insurance premiums. The accessories attached to your aircraft may change, and we keep up to date with these modifications, so why not keep up to date with the changes in ourselves and our colleagues? Because, contrary to what a leopard might tell you, we do all change. But can self-help books actually make a difference, or is it all mouth music? That, dear reader, is up to you. Im sure all of us know a FlightSim enthusiast, who knows everything there is to know about the Airbus/Boeing but has never had a lesson in an actual aircraft. You wouldnt call them an aviation expert! And that is because there is a marked difference between reading and doing. The Chimp Paradox acknowledges this and offers a practical way to identify and augment the way we think. Anyone who has attended CRM training recently is most probably familiar with the theory behind Professor Steve Peters bestselling book, which, according to his website, is the best-selling self-help book of all time in the UK. While passing time in the terminal, waiting for a delayed aircraft to arrive, I decided to take the plunge and see what all the fuss was about. The impact of the past few years on mental health cannot be overstated... so practical solutions to resolve conflict are essential, especially if you are in the role of commander A review of The Chimp Paradox Professor Peters is a consultant psychiatrist and his CV includes clinical director of mental health services within the NHS, consultant forensic psychiatrist and undergraduate dean at Sheffield Medical School, so you would expect a lot of scientific jargon to be used in his work. And there is; but its done in a way that both satisfies our need for scientific evidence and our need to actually understand the concept without a medical degree. By using simple metaphors, he makes the concept easy to understand. At first, I felt the MS Paint drawings were a little patronising, but as I kept reading, I must admit I found their constant appearance quite amusing. Peters even offers guidance on how to read the book most effectively. Hold on! Being told how to read? Give me a break! you might say, but by reading this book a chapter at a time, you can actually let the examples sink in and take time to use the exercises provided by the author. Now, I appreciate homework might not sound very appealing, but let me offer an example. One chapter focuses on reviewing times we have reacted emotionally to something. Peters asks us to think back to the last time someone said something that troubled us and how we responded to it. If we later thought our response was unhelpful, it is likely that the chimp (the irrational and emotional part of our brain) was hijacking us at that moment. So Peters asks us to assess how the human (the logical and intelligent part of our brain) should have responded instead. These exercises are simple and one of the main reasons this book actually works. Without them, its easy to see how you might gloss over the personal relevance of each chapter and become Mr FlightSim of the CRM world. So, for whom is this book most relevant? Captains, first officers? In all honesty, it applies to everyone, no matter their experience level. When you are training, nerves can often get in the way. Imposter syndrome is working its wicked spell, your blood is pumping in your ears, you might not get on with the person next to you, and you feel that no matter what you do, you will underperform in their eyes. This is all chimp. Learning not to quash, but to placate this voice as Peters suggests, is one way to overcome this feeling (he calls this giving your chimp a banana). This applies to sim anxiety as well, which may raise its head even after many years of being comfortable in this environment. But The Chimp Paradox doesnt just tell you how to understand yourself better, it also gives guidance on how to react better. With the scars of Covids collective trauma still very much with us, this tool advises how to best deal with others who are acting in a way with which you disagree. Sometimes, conflict cannot be avoided, and crew members act out because of unseen issues. The impact of the past few years on mental health cannot be overstated, and people are more anxious, stressed and angry than ever before, so practical solutions to resolve conflict are essential, especially if you are in the role of commander. Although The Chimp Paradox came out 10 years ago, it feels as relevant now as it did when it was first published. Maybe even more so - which is why it still appears on many command course reading lists. Although The Chimp Paradox is regularly quoted during CRM days, the most pertinent points of this theory are skipped over entirely, the how parts. As one journalist says: If youre always learning about improving and not actually applying what you learn, you might as well just be twiddling your thumbs. So its constant mention feels a little like something airline management quotes to convince us they are not actually all robots. But if you do genuinely want to make sure you are getting the best out of yourself and others, reading (or listening to) this book is the only way. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT