Heal thyself : the history of self-help. 2/3.

Three part documentary looking at the self-help movement, presented by Robin Ince, a stand-up comedian and book collector. Jan Golinski of the University of New Hampshire discusses those at the forefront of the new scientific revolution in the 17th century including philosopher Robert Boyle, a leading member of the Royal Society in the 1660s, and his concerns and approaches to various aspects of his physical and intellectual wellbeing. Dr Erin Sullivan of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham discusses medical literature of the 17th and 18th centuries and focuses on Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy which recaptured ideas from ancient Greece and Rome of moderation and balance. Katie Birkwood, Rare Books Librarian at the Royal College of Physicians primarily discusses George Cheyne's An Essay on Health and Long Life. Described as one of the first self-help authors, George Cheyne was primarily concerned with diet and avoiding the traditions of excess. Other early English medical books for the lay audience are also discussed. Jessica Lamb-Shapiro, writer on the history of self-help, discusses Scottish author Samuel Smiles' work Self-Help. She argues that the growth of cities following the industrial revolution resulted in new ways of living and changing social rules. This led to a growth of wide ranging etiquette and self-help books in the mid-19th century. It is argued that the Victorian urge to reform individuals in the light of problems of poverty in new cities fuelled the self-help movement. Self-help books in the United States at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century are also discussed and it is argued that there is a change in emphasis from the notion of improving society through self-help to concentrating on the individual.