Self Help; With Illustrations Of Conduct And Perseverance Second Edition Paperback – April 28, 2009

The following review is based on the Oxford World's Classics edition, edited bby Peter W. Sinnema.

'Self-Help' was published in 1859 in England, and became the instant bestseller, with 20,000 copied sold within the year after publication, making Samuel Smiles a household name. It is hard to categorize this book into any genre, but basically 'Self-Help' is a statement on the virtues of hard working, or in Smiles's favorite word, 'perseverance,' amply illustrated by many examples of biographical records collected by Smiles.

The chapter names would show the contents -- 'Self-Help: National and Individual'; 'Leaders of Industry: Inventors and Producers'; 'Three Great Potters'; 'Application and Perseverance'; 'Helps and Opportunities'; 'Workers in Art'; 'Industry and the Peerage'; 'Energy and Courage'; 'Men on Business'; 'Money: It's Use and Abuse'; 'Self-Culture: Facilities and Difficulties'; 'Example: Models'; 'Character: The True Gentleman.'

Each chapter tells you the examples of hard work and its eventual triumph, and with many biographical episodes, Smiles argues the importance of being earnest, no matter where the supposed readers belong to the social ladder of England. For example, in the Chapter 'Three Great Potters' you can see the life of three potters -- Palissy, Bottgher, and Wedgwood -- and how they. in spite of the numerous obstacles rushing to them, succeeded in their art, with which their names were recorded in the history.

Like this, Smiles' book has a pattern -- it states its point first, championing the virtue of hard work, then he supports his statement with mini-biographies about many people, which include that of mechanics, philanthropists, scientist, musicians, soldiers, politicians, merchants, and many others. But as this is written in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, many pages are devoted to the inventors of new machines, or their privation, suffering, and final victory.

Often his styles are preachy, and Smiles didn't include many remarkable women who should have been included (if he does, those women's roles are often as men's 'help-mates'), and it has been pointed out since the publication that the cases Smiles cites as examples are all successful ones. But as it was written long time ago, we should take the book as it is now.

Oxford editon included concise introduction by Peter W. Sinnema, and helpful notes and glossary of the names the book deals with.

This is not a so-called 'how-to' book (if you want to read that way, of course you can), but a good proof as to how Victorian working class and lower-middle class thought about being 'viruous' and 'respectable.' If you want to see the glimpse of Victorian ideas among ordinary people, and how such ideas greatly influenced the writers like Dickens who created Mr. Bounderby in 'Hard Times,' you should read this book.

By Darrell Stoddard, darrellstoddard@gmail.com

Because of this book the Japanese learned to be servants instead of masters. "Self Help" Totally Changed History of Japan. STRANGE BUT TRUE! The now almost unknown book in English 'Self Help' published in England in 1859 and then translated into the Japanese language, dramatically changed the history of Japan (and even the history of the world) as much as 'Mein Kompf' changed Germany or the "Communist Manifesto' changed the history of Russia or China.

How could this be? Self help was a series of lectures given by a physician named Samuel Smiles to a group of boys in England who came out of the mines, mills, and factories that wanted an education. They met together in an abandoned cholera hospital to try and educate each other. Those who knew a little taught those who knew less. They called themselves the 'mutual improvement youths'.

Smiles accepted an invitation to "talk to them a bit" and told them the stories of the men that gave England the Industrial Revolution. The lectures then became the book 'Self Help'. Smiles said the stories were "almost gospels" because they embodied the principle of service. The highest and best you could be was to to become a servant by inventing something for the betterment of mankind.

Admiral Perry opened the doors of the Japan in a steamship that the Japanese never knew existed. He then built for the Japanese to see, a model locomotive railroad with tracks. Then Perry installed and demonstrated a telegraph line. The Japanese saw technology they never knew existed and wanted to catch up with a world that was in the midst of an industrial revolution. Using as a guide to do this, they translated the book 'Self Help' into the Japanese language.

A missionary to Japan told me there were nine million copies of 'Self Help' translated into Japanese. I have no way of confirming these numbers but it was enough to completely saturate the nation. 'Self help' became the pattern for the industrial development of Japan with the overriding principle of, "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant". From the book 'Self Help' Japan became a whole nation of servants. You see an expression of the belief (that every person should be a servant) in the bowing the Japanese do when greeting someone or saying goodbye, wherein each person bows again and again trying to go lower than the other person, as if to say, "I am lower than you. I am your servant".

Student executives for a major Japanese corporation have to go to the companies employees and clean their toilets. Because of 'Self Help' the guiding principle of Japanese corporations is TOP DOWN SERVICE. This made Japan the second most productive nation on earth. Now the book is available free of charge from amazon.com for you to transform your life, the life of your company, or the life of your nation.

Footnote regarding SERVICE:
Top down service (or service freely given) makes men free and it also makes men and nations prosperous. To create wealth, leaders must be servants instead of masters. In contrast, BOTTOM UP COMPULSORY SERVICE MAKES MEN SLAVES.

There was "bottom up compulsory service" in Communist China under Communism and the people were slaves. Since the Cultural Revolution, we have witnessed the effects of 'Self Help' and service in Modern China with the introduction of the same principles that made Japan prosperous.

The miracle of modern China repeats the story of a nation moving from poverty and slavery to wealth and prosperity based on WHO SERVES WHO. Fifty years ago in China under a Communist government of slavery with "bottom up compulsory service", there were thirty million people starving to death.

Today (because of the miracle of service) China has become one of the most powerful nations on earth. There is an abundance of food and almost no one is starving. What made the difference? One simple act: China gave the land in the collective farms back to the peasants. This made the peasants free to realize the fruits of their own labor or "self help".

'SELF HELP' AND FREEDOM WORKS! PLANNED ECONOMIES AND SERVITUDE DOES NOT WORK. It never has and it never will.

Planned economies have never been able to produce enough food to feed their own people. It took 'Self Help' and people free to realize the fruits of their own labor to produce steamships, farming machinery, automobiles, trucks, airplanes, televisions, computers and Ipods. Freedom (not laws, not governments or government control) has given us such inventions and the standard of living we now have.

Top down service not only creates wealth and prosperity, but it also creates love (in those who render the service for those to whom the service is given). Through service, freely given, we can even love our enemies. See my review of the motion picture 'Truce in the Forest'.

See all of my Reviews. I write only about books, events, or motion pictures that have changed the course of history or unforgettable books or motion pictures that will totally change peoples lives.

Darrell Stoddard, Founder - Pain Research Institute and saveusa.biz

I have stepped over the title while reading "Why Toyota Became #1" and have got a German version from 1900. It has much insight in it that is still valid today and was a major part of Toyota's starting point to the journey where one in business is looking at.

Focus on your core strengths and eliminate waste, keep doing that constantly and you will be successful.

Easy to read and the stories are very much transferable to the present (even though some of them are a couple of hundreds of years old).