De-Deepak the prose

Being a critic involves more courage than you might think. Often, the critic puts aside his or her own proclivities and sympathies in an effort to imagine the needs of a wider audience. Or, in the case of literature, to defend the vitality and credibility of the written word, which depends not just on good writing (the virtues of syntax and grammar) but also on how successfully that writing stretches human potential while enlarging and enriching our lives. For these reasons, self-help and inspirational books are particularly difficult to critique.

So often, they are poorly written. They state the obvious, and this shallowness often obscures whatever wisdom the author has to offer. And yet, so many readers find solace and inspiration in these books. They are not particularly challenging. They are life affirming. They are cozy. “On Becoming Fearless” is, for the most part, no exception. When I first heard Arianna Huffington speak, I marveled at her quiet voice and her unflappable confidence. She is at once seductive and forceful. She turned her accent -- once a source of fear for her in the world of public speaking -- into a trademark that conveys grace and persistence.

It seems to me from the few times I have met her and seen her speak that she is not easily intimidated. I asked her about this once. She looked down at my feet and asked me where I had gotten my shoes, which she said she liked. I took this as a metaphor: Arianna Huffington’s confidence has been painstakingly built from the ground up.

A bit of background: Arianna Stassinopoulos was born in 1950 in Athens. She was educated at Cambridge, graduating in 1972 with a master’s in economics. She published her first book, “The Female Woman,” one year later, at 23, and began to establish her conservative credentials. She worked in television in London, continued writing, fell in love with British journalist Bernard Levin, then broke up with him in 1980.

She moved to the U.S. in 1986 and married energy scion and nascent politician Michael Huffington. They divorced in 1997.

Changing direction

In the late 1990s, Arianna changed her political affiliation, gravitating to issues traditionally associated with the Democratic Party: the environment, childcare and women’s issues.

In 2003, she briefly ran in the recall to replace Gray Davis as governor. Soon after, she co-founded the Detroit Project, an effort to educate the public about the climate-destroying properties of SUVs, and in 2005, she started the Huffington Post, her current place in the blogosphere.

Throughout, Huffington has written books: about Picasso, Maria Callas, the gods of Greece, the human yearning for spirituality and later about the poverty of the Republican agenda. (“Pigs at the Trough” is a personal favorite of mine.)

At times, at least in Southern California, she has seemed ubiquitous, with a syndicated column running in the Los Angeles Times, co-hosting duties on the public radio show “Left, Right & Center,” her own blog and acting as hostess for various writers, artists and activists passing through or working in Los Angeles. She has two teenage daughters.

And yet, she insists in “On Becoming Fearless,” she is no superwoman. In fact, she finds such comparisons odious. “[W]here is that superwoman?” she asks. “I can certainly tell you she’s never been seen around my house.” (The average woman is probably exhausted just reading Huffington’s bio; by the time she advises the reader to add yoga and regular facials to her routine, the fatigue becomes depression.)

In fact, the more Huffington writes of her insecurities and her fears of getting fat, old and ugly, the angrier the average reader may find herself.

Failure to uplift

Phrases such as “fears of inadequacy are manufactured and mass-marketed” or “[u]ltimately, the greatest beauty secret is to live out our passions and connect with our own spirit” do little to lift the reader from the “treadmill of comparisons” that Huffington exhorts us to avoid on penalty of soul death.

I could read Richard Simmons or Andrew Weil or Deepak Chopra for this stuff. The best chapters are not the ones on self-image or relationships (you must love yourself before you can love another is hardly a new idea) but those on ambition and leadership and speaking out and changing the world.

In “Fearless at Work,” Huffington draws the connection between insecurity and workaholism, which has led many men and women to lose perspective on what’s truly important in life.

It’s nice to be reminded of this, but phrases such as “[w]e have to let go of the idea that we must be sweet all the time if we’re going to be ‘real women’ ” are not specific or unique enough to be practical, much less transformative.

Combating the fear of illness by “letting go” -- what Huffington calls detoxifying the soul -- seems similarly hollow.

In contrast, reintegrating the spiritual into everyday life as a way of banishing fear is an ancient yet endlessly practical suggestion. Belief in something (Huffington calls it grace) beyond daily life is not without its detractors but seems worth working on nonetheless.

The importance of empathy and fearless individualism in leadership is something Huffington can teach us, given her own experience as a journalist and an activist.

The use of sleep to bring on helpful dreams and clarifying visions is an interesting and unusual recommendation. Making community service a family activity is a terrific suggestion, enlivened by Huffington’s accounts of her own efforts to expose her children to the needs of others.

“On Becoming Fearless” is interspersed with brief essays by writers such as Nora Ephron, activists and Hollywood heavies including Sherry Lansing, former head of Paramount Pictures. Huffington’s very current reading, particularly in such subjects as motherhood, working women and female brain chemistry, adds depth to an otherwise superficial book.

The woman is a sponge. I do applaud her effort to take a question she must get asked all the time (How do you conquer your fears?) and answer it.

Thinking out loud in the fast and furious world of politics is a tough game, one that she has mastered. She should leave the personal growth business to professionals.

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susan.reynolds@latimes.com