As some of you in Australia may vaguely remember, my first book, 50 Self-Help Classics, was originally published in my native Oz by Simon & Schuster, back in 2001. That's the original cover to your right. It actually went out of print after a couple of years, and I bought out the publisher's final couple of hundred copies. I gave quite a few to a prison in Sydney, and still have a few somewhere in my garage.

Luckily I had only sold Australian & NZ rights. Nicholas Brealey Publishing in London bought world rights, releasing an expanded and updated edition in the UK, US, and elsewhere, in 2003, with the now-familiar covers with gold foil lettering. As it sold well and went into many languages, I was asked to do a follow up, which became 50 Success Classics. Then came 50 Spiritual Classics, 50 Psychology Classics, ... and so on, up to 50 Politics Classics, the most recent, which will also get a new cover next year.

This recent interview with Vera Ng'oma for her InsightsFromAuthors website asked interesting questions about the motivations behind the 50 Classics series. It also has thoughts on the meaning of prosperity and success, the ideas behind my motivational book Never Too Late To Be Great, and ends with three big tips I've learned from reading hundreds of great books and applying the lessons to my life. The interview's title, "Personal advancement through existing information", is a good summation of what I hope my work achieves.