Real Success: Based on the Writings of Success Magazine Founder Orison Swett Marden

Authors revisit the application of character-based success, including case examples of how America's top executives, then and now, have applied Marden's thinking to their own achievements.

Tracy (Maximum Achievement and Advanced Selling Strategies) presents his thoughts about success and personal development in a form as old as literature itself: a man goes on a journey, and readers discover what he learns along the way. In this case the journey is a trip to Africa Tracy undertook with two friends when he was 21. But while Tracy provides a roadmap of the lessons he wants a reader to remember (the secret to accomplishing your goal is having a plan; you should never be deterred; etc.), the details get confusing. For one thing, you are never quite sure where Tracy started from or exactly how and why he traveled as he did. (The trip seems to have started from England, although Tracy was apparently raised in Canada.) And while some of the advice is sound ("People will often encourage you in a risky venture as long as it means nothing to them... the acid test is to invite them to invest their own money"), much of it is contradictory. We are told at various times that the secret to success is to keep plunging ahead, to wait and do nothing and to pace yourself. More worrisome, an overarching theme to achieving what you want seems to be "leap and the net will appear." While the details of the trip can be mildly engaging, the reader's journey would have been far smoother here if as much hard work had been put into ferreting out the inconsistencies and contradictions of the text as in trying to reach Africa. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Dec.) FYI: Executive Excellence will also publish Real Success: Based on the Writings of SUCCESS Magazine founder Orison Swett Marden, by the house's editor-in-chief, Ken Shelton, in November. $75,000 ad/promo. ($21.95 288p ISBN 1-890009-52-0) Copyright 1998 Publishers Weekly Reviews