ple and
clear-cut but scientific form the proof that you have at your command
mental powers of which you have never before dreamed.

And we shall give you such specific directions for the use of these
new-found powers, that whatever your environment, whatever your
business, whatever your ambition, _you need but follow our plain and
simple instructions in order to do the thing you want to do, to be the
man you want to be, or to get the thing you want to have._

[Sidenote: Inadequacy of Body Training]

If you have any thought that the control of your hidden mental energies
is to be acquired by mere hygienic measures, put it from you. The idea
that you may come into the fulness of your powers through mere
wholesome living, outdoor sports and bodily exercise is an idea that
belongs to an age that is past. Good health is not necessary to
achievement. It is not even a positive influence for achievement. It is
merely a negative blessing. With good health you may hope to reach your
highest mental and spiritual development free from the harassment of
soul-racking pain. But without good health men have reached the summit
of Parnassus and have dragged their tortured bodies up behind them.

[Sidenote: Inadequacy of Business Specialization]

Nor does success necessarily follow or require long preparation in a
particular field. The first occupation of the successful man is rarely
the one in which he achieves his ultimate triumph. In the changing
conditions of our day, one needs a better weapon than the mere knowledge
of a particular trade, vocation or profession. _He needs that mastery of
himself and others that is the fundamental secret of success in all
fields of endeavor_.

[Sidenote: Futility of Advice in Business]

It is well to tell you beforehand that in this _Basic Course of Reading_
we shall be content with no mere cataloguing of the factors that are
commonly regarded as essential to success. We shall do no moralizing.
You will find here no elaboration of the ancient aphorisms, "Honesty is
the best policy," and "Genius is the infinite capacity for taking
pains."

The world has had its fill of mere exhortations to industry, frugality
and perseverance. For some thousands of years men have preached to the
lazy man, "Be industrious," and to the timid man, "Be bold." But such
phrases never have solved and never can solve the problem for the man
who feels himself lacking in both industry and courage.

[Sidenote: The Why