Customer Reviews

How to Succeed or Stepping Stones to Fame and Fortune

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them...they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight."

It is pearls of this type of wisdom that you will find in this book and that will make you want to say 'YES! I can do it!!' So go for it...this is a superb and remarkable work on the success journey anyone can benefit from reading, no matter what they do for a living. Just Awesome!!!

"How to Succeed" was written in 1896. The book aims to provide inspiration that would help a person to succeed in life.

Each chapter starts with quotes from various famous people making a point relevant to the topic of the chapter. I really enjoyed the quotes. These quotes are probably the best part of this book.

The book does not reveal any big secrets about how to succeed, rather it provides inspiration for being successful. It suggests not to lose your individuality, be able to stand up for your convictions, to find a way to improve on methods people use and finding that something special that is in demand will propel you to making a fortune.

Some of the language in the book is rather sexist, for example here is a paragraph from "Seize Your Opportunity":
"Of thousands of young women trying to get a living at typewriting, many are so ignorant, so deficient in the common rudiments even, that they spell badly, use bad grammar, and know scarcely anything of punctuation. In fact, they murder the English language. They can copy, "parrot like," and that is about all."

When you read old books you notice how the society changed. It makes you feel good that something like that is not likely to be accepted if it was written today.

Table of content:

Be a Man,
Seize Your Opportunity
How Did He Begin?
Out of Place
What Shall I Do?
Will You Pay the Price?
Foundation Stones
The Conquest of Obstacles
Dead in Earnest
To Be Great, Concentrate
At Once
Thoroughness
Trifles
Courage
Will Power
Guard Your Weak Point
Stick
Save
Live Upward
Sand
Above Rubies
Moral Sunshine
Hold Up Your Head
Books and Success
Riches Without Wings

Overall, it was a quick and easy read. The collection of quotes it contains is remarkable! I think reading this book is worth your time!

Ali Julia review

This is a 5 star work in a lot of ways but for me it fails only in these points: he does not reveal success secrets like concentration in this book; he repeats himself a lot; the chapters and information isn't correctly synthesized; he sometimes quotes when unnecessary; and again, he repeats the same points a lot. But it is a worthwhile book to quote from, to get inspiration from, to find out what other men did in the past to succeed. He quotes Virgil, Michelangelo, Horace Mann, Napoleon, etc., etc.

What I like most about this book is the sheer number of quotes from so many different sources. Marden was definitely well read. I also love the fact that he quotes and says some quite striking things himself, telling the truth rather than what the reader might want to hear. It is not a 'sugary' work like the modern-day success books. 'Don't run from poverty because poverty is a great motivator' is one of the tougher lessons in this book, one you'll struggle to find elsewhere.

This is a good success book to start with because it highlights the main principles like hard work, persistence, patience, etc. So it is a good starter. No other book offers so many quotes on success, at least that I've seen. Here are some of them:

"When we march on obstacles disappear." -- Marden

"In fact, the only real happiness and unalloyed satisfaction we get out of life, is the product of self-control." -- Marden

"Man is naturally lazy, and wealth induces indolence."

Poverty, Horace tells us, drove him to poetry.

"Versatile men, universal geniuses, are usually weak, because they have no power to concentrate the rays of their ability, to focalize them upon one point, until they burn a hole in whatever they undertake." -- Marden

"Men of substance turn disappointments into helps as the oyster turns into pearls the sand which annoys it." -- Marden

"It is firmness that makes the gods on our side." -- Voltaire

"To make his way at the bar," said an eminent jurist, "a young man must live like a hermit and work like a horse. There is nothing that does a young lawyer so much good as to be half starved."

Marden's first book on success is this one. His last book on success is Success Fundamentals, which I also own. For me, How To Succeed is the better one. The last one has a lot less quotes and examples and he tends to focus more on the importance of health, fresh air, sunshine, exercise, making a plan, etc. He spends more time than is necessary on each topic and it only has five chapters. It is more instructional than inspirational so some readers might find it a more useful read but there is nothing in Success Fundamentals that hasn't been said better by someone else. James Allen and Napoleon Hill come to mind. But How To Succeed is unique and irreplaceable in a lot of ways.