ARISTOTLE'S GUIDE TO SELF-PERSUASION

Using the ancient Greek art of rhetoric to talk yourself into a more fulfilling life.

Rhetoric, the art of verbal persuasion, is usually reserved for politicians giving stump speeches or lawyers addressing juries. Heinrichs has in mind a jury of just one: yourself. Or, more specifically, your soul. Skipping over Aristotle’s actual philosophy, the author defines the soul as “your you-est you,” the noblest version of yourself that the everyday-schlub you most aspires to be. Your job—you, the schlub—is to convince your soul you’ve got what it takes to make it proud. “To persuade yourself into better habits, and motivate yourself to achieve your goals,” Heinrichs writes, “you want to try and make a good impression on your soul.” Heinrichs’s prose is everything one would expect from an expert on rhetoric: funny, charming, relatable. It employs all the Aristotelean virtues it extolls—appealing to our emotions, using self-deprecating humor to chummy effect. The trouble with rhetoric, though, is it can sound great without saying much. Heinrichs doles out familiar advice (break hard tasks into small steps, reframe negative thoughts as positive ones) and goofy exercises (“make a happy plan for a vacation,” “craft a metaphor of your very own”) and is caught up in the questionable task of combing etymology for hidden wisdom (“irony” is from the Greek for “sharp dullness”). He does offer a few interesting rhetorical tricks, though. When setting a goal, make it as bold and dramatic as possible—to get your audience (your soul) psyched. Motivate yourself with slogans; for best results, use the rhythm of the paean—four syllables, three short, one long (here is one now; something like this). Still, the book has surprisingly little to say about self-talk or, frankly, rhetoric—a shame, since Heinrichs has hit on what probably amounts to a deep truth: that we master our lives when we master our words.

A fun, gimmicky self-help book that’s big on style and short on substance.