Publisher's Synopsis
This is a typical example of the sort of self-improvement essays or book that Arnold Bennett produced so readily during his heyday. In Britain in the first decades of the 20th century, there was a demand for anything that would help ordinary people better themselves, and Bennett obliged with volumes on Mental Efficiency, how to live 24 hours a day, how to improve one's literary taste, as well as books on the life of a novelist, etc. Overall, of course, he is deservedly best remembered for such novels as The Old Wives' Tale, the Clayhanger Trilogy, and The Card. Enoch Arnold Bennett (always known as Arnold Bennett) was one of the most remarkable literary figures of his time, a product of the English Potteries that he made famous as the Five Towns. Yet he could hardly wait to escape his home town, and he did so by the sheer force of his ambition to succeed as an author. In his time he turned his hand to every kind of writing, but he will be remembered for such novels as The Old Wives' Tale, the Clayhanger trilogy (Clayhanger, Hilda Lessways, and These Twain), and The Card. He also wrote such intriguing self-improvement books as Literary Taste, How To Live on 24 Hours a Day, The Human Machine, etc. As well as Bennetts novels, his non-fiction work has withstood the test of time, and is widely read today. In the Human Machine, Bennett explores the vital questions about how we can operate to our optimum potential. His answers are efficient and practical, and they work for the common man and woman.
