Walk into your local bookstore - if you can find one - or browse the lists at Amazon, Book Depository or Booktopia and you'll find hundreds if not thousands of "self help" books. And the vast majority give the same advice; identify your problem and follow a series of steps to overcome the challenge. Melbourne-based clinician, coach and mentor Philip Owens says that approach is flawed and it inspired him to write a different book - one that lets you decide on the journey by creating the space you need.

If there's an area in your life that could do with some improvement, a good audio book might be able to steer you in the right direction. Best of all, they can be readily absorbed while driving or multitasking, which makes them perfect for people with busy schedules (i.e. - nearly all of us.) We asked Amazon's digital audiobook arm Audible to share some of its best-selling self-improvement titles. Here are their picks.

A reading survey by Scholastic revealed something they’re calling the “decline by nine.” According to the report, the percentage of kids defined as frequent readers—those who read books for fun five to seven days a week— drops from 57% among 8-year-olds to 35% among 9-year-olds.

Between ages eight and nine, the number of kids who say they love reading plummets from 40% to 28%. What happens during this year, and more importantly, what can parents do to keep their young readers reading, willingly?

If you’ve been waiting for a sign that it’s time to introduce your kids to The Baby-Sitters Club, Netflix has generously decided to oblige.

Video: At Brooklyn’s Books Are Magic, as at most bookstores, the books are organised sensibly.

Even while we spend more of our days staring at screens and do more of our shopping on Amazon, book sales are actually rising at independent bookstores.

Novelist Emma Fusco-Straub and her husband Mike opened Cobble Hill shop Books Are Magic in 2017, and have drawn customers in every day since, with a charming children’s room in the back, a trim and trendy adult collection up front, and nightly readings, signings, and other events. In the video below, we talk to Emma about how to make a local bookstore a community gathering spot.

I have a few rules for choosing non-fiction books: I won’t read a book promising to reveal the “insider secrets” of an organisation or field. (The author only knows 1 per cent of the secrets, and they’ll oversell them.) If I find a book too broad or challenging, I go down a reading level — or even find a comic book version with a reliable co-author. And I don’t commit the way I do to fiction — sometimes I only need to read one chapter.

Ken Jennings became famous the easy way - through an unprecedented 74-game victory streak worth $3 million on Jeopardy. Since that 2004 era, the affable quizmaster has gone on to host a podcast, become a beloved Twitter hero, write several books, (including the newly released Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture), and continue raising his two children with his wife Mindy.

Here's how he parents.

My husband and I like having the captions on while we’re watching a TV show so we can keep the volume down without missing any dialogue. Because of that, the captions are almost always on when my son takes over the TV — a fact that frustrated him for years.

“How do I build a steady reading habit?” asks redditor 6hlooo on r/TrueAskReddit. “I was always the kind of person to read a book and stop reading after a few pages. I know what the benefits of reading are, but I just can’t seem to motivate myself to read consistently. What do I do?”

Redditors answer with great tips for getting into the habit. The secret is in letting yourself read what you like, and taking practical steps to make it easy to pick up a book. Out of 60+ comments, here are the very best.

I’m so sorry but we’re still talking about Marie Kondo. The popularity of her Netflix show Tidying Up caused an uptick in donations to charity shops and used bookstores, according to CNN, the New Yorker, and Stranger. Now’s the time to take your “want to read” list to a used bookstore and stock up, while everyone else is cleaning house.

The new Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo is a reality-show version of tidying guru’s best-selling book. Something as innocuous as reducing clutter finds itself at the center of a backlash from booklovers.

There’s been a lot of backlash to Marie Kondo’s attitude toward books, thanks to her new Netflix show. In her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she encourages readers to get rid of all their unread books. She says that she personally only owns 30 titles. Her critics say that’s ridiculous, and in fact you should cover your home in books.

New parenthood is equally exciting and overwhelming, joyful and terrifying. There’s no shortage of advice out there: If you search for “parenting books” on Amazon, more than 60,000 results will appear. On one hand, it’s nice to live during a time in which information is so readily available. On the other hand, how would you possibly know where to start?

Australians flock to the beach over the summer holidays: Bondi alone had 2.9 million visitors in 2017 – 2018. But while tourism campaigns often portray the beach as an idyllic, isolated haven, many of our beach stories depict it as a darker, more crowded and complex place.

Here are ten Australian beach stories (in no particular order) worth reading this summer.

In the hallowed words of US poet Gertrude Stein, whoever said "money can't buy you happiness" was shopping at the wrong store. However, building wealth takes a considerable amount of skill - especially if you don't have tons of disposable income.

These personal finance books provide strategies for everything from creating a budget, to clawing your way out of debt, to teaching your kids how to be wealthy.

Apple is giving away six high-quality audiobooks of classic stories read by celebrities, free with no strings attached, playable on desktop and mobile. You can download and listen to Pride and Prejudice, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Secret Garden, The Time Machine, Frankenstein, and a small Disney collection of Winnie the Pooh stories. Most of these audiobooks are excellent, one is iffy, and one is garbage.

You might think the best book to read to your young child is one they’ll love. One that, when you close the final page, makes them shout, “Again, again!” One that, before you even say, “Go pick out a bedtime book,” is already in their hand and waving in front of your face, an old and familiar friend.

I admit I was a little sceptical when one of the parents in our Offspring Facebook Group suggested I buy an “indestructible” book for my 9-month-old nephew for Christmas.