Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
It’s an interesting story about the author of ‘Think and Grow Rich’, Napoleon Hill. Now this book is on more millionaires’ recommended reading list than any other with the exception of the bible, so really it is the bible of the money making industry. And the interesting thing is, according to acclaimed trainer Dan Kennedy, that he was almost broke if W. Clement Stone, who was a student of Hill’s, hadn’t bailed him out and gave him a job as his sales trainer towards the end of his career. I’ll discuss the one flaw with this book in a moment.
This book was compiled by Napoleon Hill after studying the most successful people in America in the early 20th Century and analysing what traits and patterns of thinking were common to all, or most, of them. And the results of decades of this study are contained in this book. And here we, the public, can get decades worth of research for less than $20. Man, you got to love books huh?
So why did the man who pretty much ‘got it’ didn’t ‘have it.’ Well this book really should be titled, ‘How to Think to Grow Rich.’ I think the problem was in the implication that all you have to do is ‘think’ in a certain way and you’ll magically grow rich. It’s the unspoken ‘just’ before the title that is implied that is the problem. Without the action, in an environment where you’re likely to make money, you can think all you like and nothing will change. Unless the thinking leads to doing, there will be no getting rich. Don’t get me wrong, Hill had a great income at various times in his life with all the extravagance that goes with it, but he made some mistakes as well.
I think that’s also the problem with ‘The Secret,’ which by the way, is based on the principals in this book. Some of the people on the Secret imply that just the thoughts will make the reality, but James Ray and Joe Vitale are the two that promote the ‘MASSIVE ACTION’ as an integral part of the deal.
That being said, all in all, an absolute MUST for anyone who has a desire for making money. The one downside is that the examples are a little dated, but if you get the updated version that is a moot point.
I stole my copy from my Dad. It was printed in 1960 and it has ‘Newly Revised’ on the old ratty cover. Quite simply – REQUIRED READING. (Oh yeah, and don’t let the chapter on ‘Sexual Transmutation’ scare you off. Interesting premise though.)
Glenn Twiddle
Tags: book review, success, think and grow rich, wealth