SUCCESS!

Success!, like the author's popular Power! How to Get It, How to Use It, is a self-helper with more style, all around, than most of the genre. The panache, though, begins to thin out and there's a definite glint of naked materialism in this Son of Power!. ""It's always better to be rich,"" Korda tells us and, indeed, he seems positively beguiled by Gucci loafers, private dining rooms, and Lear jets. Here's the way to get all those perks, if you want them. And why shouldn't you want them? It's your right. Simply remember, ""all life is a series of tests."" The advice ranges from the theoretical to the mundane, like the right way to stuff a linen handkerchief in your pocket with studied casualness, or how to wield eyeglasses effectively. Appearances count; don't lug a fiberglass attache case. Plan to dominate meetings, select ""successful"" office furniture (in ""jock,"" ""high-WASP,"" or ""Jewish"" decor), ""play for number one."" Ability and talent won't take you very far. You can even succeed through failure if you are calculating enough. Some of the author's favorite historical personages (Winston Churchill, Jacqueline Susann) as well as squads of tycoons are marshalled to bear witness to his straightforward goods-getting. There's some thought about the American love affair with success, whether losers really want to win, and an engagingly exasperating chapter on women and success. (Use tears as a ""second strike"" weapon, Korda advises.) The author, editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster and a success by all appearances, has a keen eye and a hard nose.