The book is not a book

Someone who was unhappy asked me for help once. I suggested they read the book Alcoholics Anonymous, to identify whether they were like the people in the book, whether they wanted what the people in the book described they had, and whether they were willing to do that. In other words, the questions were about the individual, not the book.

The individual did not much like this. They had read the book before, apparently, and wanted tools or something. That was the end of that.

If one reads the book repeatedly, and does what's in it, one realises it's not a book in the ordinary sense.

It's actually a couple of things: a mirror and an instruction manual.

It doesn't matter how many times you've looked in a mirror, it's worth looking again, if time has passed or anything has changed. It doesn't matter how many times you've eaten a meal, you'll still need to cook your dinner, and you'll still need instructions, whether they're in a recipe book or memorised from the recipe book.