Mental efficiency, and other hints to men and women, [Hardcover]

Arnold Bennett (Author)

Book Description

| Publication Date: 1911

Contents: mental efficiency: the appeal, replies, cure, mental calisthenics; expressing one's individuality; breaking down the past; settling down in life; marriage: duty of it, adventure of it, two ways of it; books: physical side, philosophy of book buying; success: candid remarks, the successful and the unsuccessful, inwardness of success; petty artificialities; secret of content.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 119 pages
• Publisher: George H. Doran Company (1911)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00085JHC4
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,771,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appealing, December 20, 2005

By 

Book Lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mental Efficiency and Other Hints to Men and Women (Paperback)

Along the lines of James Allen and OM Swett - a great read for those who are interested in early motivational and self help authors in the field of life management and business success.

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking, despite its age, January 29, 2012

By 

R. Fowler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mental efficiency, and other hints to men and women (Paperback)

I found this book at my university library and started reading it, expecting it to be antiquated. I was surprised to find references to meditation in this 1911 book. He recommends setting aside an hour of the day to do mental exercises, just as one might do physical exercises. There aren't many examples given, but one good example would be reading an article, and trying to recall a summary of it. Now, if you know anything about meditation and have read many self-help books you may not learn much, but it's very inspiring. It's almost worth reading by the fact that it seems so shocking that someone of that time was so perceptive of the mind.
Towards the end of the book, he digresses onto philosophical topics, and seems to be influenced by Buddhism:

If I miss my train, or my tailor disgraces
himself, or I lose that earthly manifestation of Force that happens to
be dearest to me, I say to my mind: "Mind, concentrate your powers
upon the full realization of the fact that I, your master, am immortal
and beyond the reach of accidents." And my mind, knowing by this time
that I am a hard master, obediently does so. Am I, a portion of the
Infinite Force that existed billions of years ago, and which will
exist billions of years hence, going to allow myself to be worried by
any terrestrial physical or mental event? I am not. As for the
vicissitudes of my body, that servant of my servant, it had better
keep its place, and not make too much fuss. Not that any fuss
occurring in either of these outward envelopes of the eternal _me_
could really disturb me. The eternal is calm; it has the best reason
for being so.