Certain Success

Hawkins, Norval A.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 520K words
Chapters: 52

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Certain Success by Norval A. HawkinsAuthor: Hawkins, Norval A.,Language: English, Class: HF: Social sciences: Commerce, Release Date: Jan 4, 2005

Editor's review

This book is an early representative work by Norval A. Hawkins on the laws of business success, falling under the social sciences category of business. Hawkins long worked in sales and business management; the book discusses sales ability, self-management, interpersonal relations, and professional mindset in direct language with plain examples, bearing the clear marks of early twentieth-century American business motivational literature. Its value lies not in startling new theories but in systematically presenting that era's framework for understanding "success": an emphasis on the accumulation of habits, willpower, and action. Reading it yields concrete, practicable advice on self-discipline and communication, and also offers a sample for observing the evolution of business ideas. It suits slow reading at the start of or during a career transition, with notes comparing the text to one's own situation, rather than trying to finish it in one sitting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who wish to systematically understand early frameworks of business success literature
Young people at the start of their careers who need to build self-disciplined habits
Practitioners interested in books on sales and self-management
Researchers who want to observe early twentieth-century American business ideas

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting support from modern empirical psychological research
Practitioners looking for a hands-on manual for a specific industry
Those who are averse to motivational writing and prefer purely theoretical analysis

Reading tips

Read the table of contents first, select chapters relevant to your current situation for close reading, and skim the rest.
After each chapter, write in three sentences an action you can try immediately, and review it a week later.
Treat it as a historical text and note its presuppositions about the definition of success and its period limitations.
If English reading is difficult, read paragraph by paragraph with a dictionary, so unfamiliar words do not break your train of thought.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for someone with no sales experience at all?

Yes. The book centers on principles and mindset and involves relatively few specific sales processes or technical details, so it is understandable without sales experience. But precisely because it lacks case background, readers need to actively map the principles onto their own situations; otherwise it is easy to read vaguely.

Are the book's views still applicable today?

Partly. The discussions of self-discipline, habit formation, and interpersonal communication transcend their era, but the book's monolithic understanding of "success" and its emphasis on competition bear clear marks of their time and industry. Read it with a critical eye, taking the practicable parts without accepting everything wholesale.

How difficult is the original English?

The language is generally straightforward with short sentences, in the style of early twentieth-century popular business writing; the vocabulary is slightly more formal than modern colloquial English. Moderate English reading ability is enough to attempt it; skip unfamiliar words and come back to them rather than looking up every word, which would interrupt the rhythm.

Is it suitable as a team reading selection?

Yes, but a discussion framework is needed. Each session could center on one theme, such as habits, communication, or goal management, with members relating it to their own work, so it does not become a mere motivational sharing session. If the team prefers empirical research, supplementary materials will be needed.

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About the author

Hawkins, Norval A. Author

Norval A. Hawkins is an author about whom very little public information is available; his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background cannot be confirmed from existing sources. Only one work by him is currently held in the collection, Certain Success. Judging from its title and subject matter, the book belongs to the inspirational and self-improvement genre concerned with the paths to success, focusing on how individuals can achieve predictable results through clear goals and methods. Writing of this kind is typically characterized by clear, direct exposition and is aimed at ordinary readers who wish to improve their circumstances and advance in their careers. Because reliable records of the author's life and full body of work are lacking, a comprehensive assessment of him and his book must await further information; readers should base their judgment primarily on the ideas and arguments presented in the work itself.