Samuel Smiles, Book Review Example

Self-Help: The Analysis of the Book Written by Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles, a Scottish author and reformer, wrote the book “Self-Help” in 1859. The book was popularly regarded as a very important book in mid-Victorian liberalism era. It holds a lot of significance in those days as its contents explained clearly how people in those times could encourage themselves to act legally, work hard, politely imitate the great minds, appropriately recognize the force of industry and show appropriate respect to the peerage

The book was written in a treatise form, because this was the commonest style of writing at that time. The main themes of the book were meant to address the issues affecting individual and the State (United Kingdom). The self-help philosophy offers some pieces of advice on how best to approach both personal and national issues (Smiles 13). The book explains the English character as perceived by foreigners that came to live in England. This puts a spotlight on the fact that English people have their own manners, ways of speaking (accents) and methods of socialization (Smiles 17).

Smiles delves into the history of Industrial Revolution in the old United Kingdom as British inventors and leaders of industry pool resources together to spurn a worldwide-recognized industrial successes that first of all gave U.K its economic power and conquered other parts of world by expanding trades, political influence and colonization. The book mentions great English inventions like Steam-Engine, Calico-printing and so on. Some industrial heroes are mentioned, and their impacts on English industry are described in a way that modern readers can easily relate with (Smiles 36-45).

Smiles also shows that the British investors possessed some characteristics that had made them succeed in all their endeavors. This is referred to as the application of perseverance, repetition, patience, practice, and putting as much efforts as possible. Examples of these great British investors and industrial leaders that are described include but not limited to Isaac Newton, Kepler, Sir Robert Peel, Dr. Hook and Sir Walter Scott (Smiles 55-59). Smiles uses some chapters of the book to explain in details about British scientists and investors. Historically, he confirms their highly esteemed place among other investors at that period, but emphasized the importance and usefulness of British inventions to the other parts of the world. However, the modern world is full of impatient people, scientists and business leaders who cannot persevere or spend years on practice and practice.

It is indicated in the book that there is direct link between English peerage in the old England and the leaders of industry at the time. This reveals a cultural significance that may be very rare in the modern England, as commoners spring up from every corner of England to start successful businesses. Another interesting observation about this issue is that it exposes the class structure that had existed at that time (Smiles 145). The English peers then had relied on the wealth of the industry to feed their greedy lives. As a matter of fact, the London tradesmen and traders created the English Peerage, by which they separated the poor from the rich (Smiles 142). Later, other professions also established their own peerage to compete with the other peerage. Smiles observes that the danger of peerage is that it deepens the separation of English societies into two unequal groups: Noblemen and Commoner. It is not surprising that peerage is still in existence today, but it seems that the tradition has mainly been upheld by British Royal Family.

Smiles indicates that for anyone to succeed there must be a force of purpose, a courage to face the mounting challenges and go for the goals. This is reflected in a statement like, “where there is a will, there is a way”. It requires working courageously to achieve optimal success that may not have been possible ordinarily (Smiles 160). People fail woefully because they lack the Power of will: they could not understand the purpose for their lives because they lacked promptitude of actions. All these important qualities of success appear to be lacking in the modern world, and that is why people fail in businesses, education, marriage and even relationship.

The book describes some qualities that a businessperson must have before it could flourish: these include personal readiness to identify the difficulties and find appropriate solutions to them; promptitude; clarity of ideas; avoidance of too much comfort and ease; and the willingness to take risks (Smiles 197). These attributes helped the old English businesspersons to succeed in all fronts. They invented new things, manufactured them and marketed them all over the world as British Empire expanded its political dominance in Africa. Asia and Middle-East. The saddest issue today is that the attributes described above are lacking, hence businesses fail woefully.

Another significant issue that Smiles discusses in his book is money. He strongly believes that the way we use money demonstrate how smart or clever we are. Money wasters often end up as debtors, and they would lose their social status. Being frugal, Smiles writes, helps people to avoid public question of accountability and doubt. A debtor is always regarded as a slave to the lenders: living within one’s resources or means has been stated to earn one enough respect in the society. It was a social vice or misbehavior in the old England for anyone to live beyond his personal capability. Such a person would be labeled a disgrace to his/her family (Smiles 228). Smiles explains that one of the ways to avoid temptation is not to be too dependent on money: money is a means through which all bad things could be carried out. And some people have lost their self-respect by following evil ways to seek wealth that would not last. In the old England, wealth is associated with peerage and social status, not necessarily the amount of paper money one has. And that any industry that does not seek wealth through a wrong way would always be honorable in the eyes of the public.

Smiles writes extensively about the need to keep one’s self-respect intact. This entails that we should be role models in the societies. Every sensible person should pay attention to his/her health. Physical exercise is necessary for one to achieve a state of well-being; and without that, it is possible for one to fall sick and lose vital energy that could have been used in industry and labor to produce wealth (Smiles 248). Explaining all the facts about human body lets the readers to go away with good information why it is quite important that we should try to always stay healthy.

From this book, we could see the numerous problems that affect human beings and learn about how we could overcome them. Samuel Smiles became an overnight celebrity because of this book, because he understood the problems affecting people of his generation and decided to offer some advice in combating those issues. Today, the book is very useful, and could lead us into understanding the way our lives should be properly lived.

Works Cited

Smiles, Samuel. Self-help: with illustrations of character and conduct. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869. Print.