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Self Help

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Self Help

By: Samuel Smiles
Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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About this listen

Self Help was published in 1859 by Samuel Smiles. It has been called "the bible of mid-Victorian liberalism". Self Help sold 20,000 copies within one year of its publication. By the time of Smiles' death in 1904, it had sold over a quarter of a million. Self-Help elevated Smiles to celebrity status; almost overnight, he became a leading pundit and much-consulted guru.

Public Domain (P)2017 Gildan Media LLC Essays Ethics & Morality European Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy World Literature Nonfiction Funny Self Help

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If you'd like to know what made so many Victorians great, then this book exemplifies it. I'm still very surprised that this book is not better known, as it's teeming with advice and guidance on every conceivable aspect of self - help. It's very, very Victorian in its approach, which makes it all the more refreshing. It's the very opposite of all of the wishy-washy, self -pitying mindfulness you get nowadays. Some may feel that it requires a British narrator, but if Walter Dixon's excellent narration helps to encourage a wider, American, audience, then so much the better. Yes, some of the place names aren't pronounced in the exact same way as they are in the UK, but it really doesn't matter. You soon get used to it. Samuel Smiles has left us a great legacy with this and his other works, and would be justifiably proud that his books are still being enjoyed more than one-hundred-and-sixtyy years later.

Outstanding...

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An almost unbelievably brilliant book that seems to have been forgotten despite the fact that it remains as relevant today as it ever was.

The writing is excellent, inspirational, incredibly well researched and empowering. No wonder Samuel Smiles was a celebrity in his era.

Now, about the narration.

Whilst it is a good thing that this book is available on Audible, why the hell was a book written by a Scottish gentleman narrated by an American????!!!!

Not only does the American reading style (ignoring commas and semi colons) damage the flow and grace of the writing, but the fact that the narrator cannot pronounce most of the English town and village names (and that nobody corrected him) makes listening to this quite cringe-inducing.

Reading House of Leaves with a British voice does not work. Reading Victorian British prose in an American accent similarly does not work.

Anyway, love the book, everyone should read / listen to it. Ignore the title - no self-hugging, mediocrity-aspiring nonsense here!

Brilliant book, terrible narration!

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I love this book, one of the few stoic authors who lived in a time close enough to our age to derive relevance from his work besides the nuances of the times...sadly I simply can't stand the narration being in an American accent.

Fabulous Book Awfully Matched American Narration

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