Personal Growth may not be easy (though that seems kind of a limiting belief to me) but the OP is right in that an awful lot of PD books
are significantly padded. Many authors take an entire book to explain PD concepts that could be covered in a chapter. Of course, individual chapters don't sell.
IMO, this is part of Steve's success (the fact that he's
good doesn't hurt either
) - the blog format doles out the information in chapters or mini-chapters.
OTOH, if you look at a book like "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", you don't really appreciate and understand the meaning found at the end of the book unless you've followed the author through his journey to reach that point.
There's also the fact that your personal needs are just that - personal. Noone out there is going to write "A Guide to Dorian86's personal development". Data-mining the info out there for the bits that are relevant to you is part of the journey.
Some people think Tony Robbins is the greatest, others think he spouts meaningless babble. What they're really saying is "I found this personally applicable", "well I didn't!".
All that said: If your gut tells you something is missing from the books you've been reading, something probably is. Try reading a bit more widely. Read the Tao Te Ching, the Grapes of Wrath, the Koran - anything that you think might offer a different perspective.