Introduction 13 can change people’s lives like a book. 吀栀ousands of sto- ries illustrate that fact. By the way, writing a book can change your life as well. My friend Og Mandino wrote 吀栀e Greatest Salesman in the World, a little book that happens to be an all- time best seller. But before he was a writer, Og had a serious alcohol problem. He couldn’t be successful at anything. He even thought about ending his life, but fortunately he wasn’t successful at that either. Og was living in New Hampshire, where the win- ters are about as cold as you can imagine. One day, just to escape the miserable weather, he visited the library. He sat down and found a book on the table in front of him. It was called 吀栀e Success System 吀栀at Never Fails. 吀栀e author was the late W. Clement Stone. Og read it— and then walked all the way to Chicago to get a job with Stone’s company, Combined Insurance, now the Aon Cor- poration. Og’s mother had always told him that one day he would be a great writer. He remembered what she said but did not see how it could ever happen to him. Og started doing some writing, which eventually found its way to the boss and the owner of both Combined Insurance and Success Magazine, Mr. Clem Stone himself. Stone read Og’s words and said, “Wow, this is so good! You’ve got to write for us.” Og wound up as editor in chief of Success Magazine. He loved to write and was so motivated to use