Self-Help Writers

Canadian writer Robin Sharma is best known for his The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari book series. A qualified lawyer, he is an alumnus of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University. He has published several books on stress management and spirituality. He is the founder of the training company Sharma Leadership International.

Rhonda Byrne, noted Australian television writer-producer, was introduced to the New Thought Movement when she read The Science of Getting Rich. It resulted in the production of a pseudoscientific documentary film called The Secret, which was followed in the same year by a bestselling eponymous book. Today she has six titles her credit, which together forms The Secret Book Series.

Literary historian Paul Fussell had been part of the infantry in World War II. He had also taught at various institutes, such as Rutgers University and the University of Pennsylvania. Best known for his books such as The Great War and Modern Memory, he was a World War expert.

Best known for his detailed works on agriculture and farming, his 12-volume treatise De re rustica and the smaller De arboribus, Columella was a Roman soldier who later focused on farming at his multiple estates in Italy. He had previously also been a legal official in Syria.

Franciscan abbess and spiritual-writer María de Agreda was a noted mystic of her era. She served as the spiritual and at times political advisor to King Philip IV of Spain for over two decades and is best-known for the correspondence she had with the King besides reports of her bilocation. She penned 14 books, including the most notable Mystical City of God.    

German author and philosopher Paul Rée, whose writings influenced much of his friend Friedrich Nietzsche’s works, was born to affluent Jewish parents. While he initially studied philosophy and law, Rée later became a physician. He died while hiking on the Swiss Alps, though some feel he had committed suicide.

Friedrich von Hügel, also known as Baron von Hügel, believed in Roman Catholicism but was tolerant of other views, too, making him a significant figure of Modernist Christian theology. He believed a middle path between religion and science could be reached. The Mystical Element of Religion remains his best-known work.