Practically Perfect in Every Way

Book excerpt: From Dr. Phil to the Fly Lady...“A level-headed, laugh-out-loud tour of the loopy world of self-help.”( Ann Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood and If You’ve Raised Kids, You Can Manage Anything) Jennifer Niesslein has an okay life. But, dogged by a sense of dissatisfaction and a yearning for something she can’t quite name, she embarks on a two-year experiment, taking all manner of self-help advice— from housecleaning to marital to spiritual—in an effort to become a better, happier person. What Niesslein learns is that the road to self-help Nirvana is fraught with peril. She also discovers that there is such a thing as the good life—it’s just a question of how perfect you have to be to get it.