Think and Grow Rich

"Think and Grow Rich!" is a motivational book written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion by American billionaire Andrew Carnegie. It was published in 1937 at the end of the Great Depression. It was the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill's books, selling a claimed 20 million copies over the next 50 years (although Alice Payne Hackett's "70 Years of Best Sellers" suggests the figure was considerably lower). [Lingeman, Richard, "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". "The New York Times", August 13, 1995. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE1DE123AF930A2575BC0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Accessed] April 28, 2008.]

Content

The text of "Think and Grow Rich!" is founded on Hill's earlier work, "The Law of Success," the result of more than twenty years of research based on Hill's close association with a large number of individuals who achieved great wealth during their lifetimes."A Lifetime of Riches: The Biography of Napoleon Hill", Michael J. Ritt and Kirk Landers (Revised Edition 1995) (ISBN 0-525-94146-0)]

At Andrew Carnegie's bidding, Hill studied the characteristics of these achievers and developed 15 "laws" of success intended to be applied by anybody to achieve success. "Think and Grow Rich!" condenses these laws further and provides the reader with 13 principles in the form of a philosophy of personal achievement.

Reflected in these principles is the importance of cultivating a burning desire, faith, autosuggestion, and persistence in the attainment of one's goals. Hill also discusses the importance of overcoming many of the common fears that can adversely affect one's thinking and potential.

In his introduction, Hill refers to the "Carnegie Secret", a conception which he reports is the foundation of all success and appears to be the premise of the book. Hill promises to indirectly describe this "secret" in every chapter, but never states it plainly, believing the use of the secret is only available to those who possess a "readiness" for it, a disposition Hill describes as essential to the concept itself.

Variant editions

The original edition of the book bore the full title, "Think and Grow Rich; Teaching, for the First Time, the famous Andrew Carnegie Formula for Money-Making, Based upon the Thirteen Proven Steps to Riches", and it was published by The Ralston Society, (Meriden Connecticut), 1937.

In 1960, Hill himself published an abridged version of the book, which for years was the only edition readily available.

In 2004, Ross Cornwell published "Think and Grow Rich!: The Original Version, Restored and Revised" (ISBN 1-59330-200-2), which restored the book to its original content, with slight revisions, and added the first comprehensive endnotes, index, and appendix the book had ever contained. This version went into a second printing in 2007. [Hill, N. and Cornwell, R.: "Think and Grow Rich!: The Original Version, Restored and Revised", page xi. Aventine Press, 2004; second edition, 2007]

Influence

"Think and Grow Rich" is often cited as an influence on Werner Erhard and Erhard Seminars Training. [Bartley, W.W. III, "". 1978, Clarkson Potter.] [Carroll, Robert Todd, "The Skeptics Dictionary". [http://www.skepdic.com/est.html Accessed] April 29, 2008.]

Since its original publication, it has shown up on bestseller lists of business books as recently as 2007 in "BusinessWeek" magazine. ["The BusinessWeek Best-Seller List", "BusinessWeek", June 4, 2007. [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_23/b4037092.htm Accessed] April 29, 2008.]

ee also

* Napoleon Hill
* Andrew Carnegie
* Law of Attraction
* Wallace Wattles
* The Science of Getting Rich

References

Further reading

* "A Lifetime of Riches: The Biography of Napoleon Hill", Michael J. Ritt and Kirk Landers (Revised Edition 1995) (ISBN 0-525-94146-0)

External links

* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/nth/tgr/index.htm Think and Grow Rich] , online copy