On the cover of Create the Best Version of You, Romulus Sirbu, former president of Avon beauty products in India and Malaysia, promises to provide “Everything a man needs to know about why personal image is important and how to build the right one for success.” Indeed, his book offers wide-ranging information on the topic.
To rise above the competition, Sirbu writes, “[D]ress for the job you want, not the job you have.” After devoting many pages on why a man should change his image, Sirbu dives into hair care, from beard shaping to eyebrow trimming: “Don’t die with the same hairstyle you had during high school,” he implores. Other topics cover everything from skin care products and manicures to automobiles. If possible, buy a car with a “sporty and luxurious look” and alloy wheels, he urges.
The author devotes several chapters to clothing, urging readers to build interchangeable wardrobes with custom-tailored jackets, suits, shirts and trousers in specific colors except black. “Black is basic and basic is boring!,” he repeats many times. Sirbu’s dress-for-success rules are explicit: “never wear square-toes shoes” and never wear a watch to a black-tie event, for example.
The book is chock full of information, presented in an easy-to-read conversational style. It is greatly hampered, however, by spelling and grammatical errors that mar almost every page, including some that are unintentionally funny: For example, he writes, “For great legs and a great butt,” try “squatting and lounges.” And in a section on body hair: “Are you not filling comfortable going to a women saloon for a wax?”
The author also fails to provide sources or attributions for any of his statements and rules, including broad assertions such as “not many fat people live over 60s [sic].”
Nevertheless, Create the Best Version of You offers solids grooming and style tips and could prove useful to any man willing to overlook its flaws and invest in image improvement.
Also available in hardcover.
