150 Years of Self-Help

Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species was not the only groundbreaking book of 1859 that celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. The BBC’s Kate Williams points out in Self help Victorian style that 1859 was also the year of Samuel Smiles’ book Self-Help, which gave rise to the now multi-million selling genre. In fact, Williams says it was published on the same day as Darwin’s.  Smiles’ book was a huge best-seller in its time, and continues to sell well. Her piece sets up an interesting, somewhat tongue-in-cheek premise: it speculates on what Smiles, with his Victorian perspective, would say about modern (though fictionalized) self-help dilemmas, and how they might be solved by current popular self-help authors, such as Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and Paul Wilson (author of the Little Book of Calm and related titles). Williams was also the presenter for a BBC Radio 4 broadcast, The Grandfather of Self Help, on July 2. For a more extensive treatment of Samuel Smiles and his book, check out the terrific website of Tom Butler-Bowdon, author of the 50 Classics series, including 50 Self-Help Classics, from which this entry on Smiles is drawn. (Butler-Bowdon wrote an endorsement for my forthcoming book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life.) He notes that though obviously dated in many respects, Smiles’ book still inspires readers through its portraits of people who improved their life through hard work and sheer will. Some reinvented themselves before it was fashionable, or before there was a term for it. Others improved not only their own lives, but those of many other people. We may no longer be living in a Victorian world, but some personal attributes and ways of thinking will never go out of style.