I was recommended to read "Think and Grow Rich" from my life coach and found it to be a decent read. I will be honest though and say that although I found some helpful nuggets along the way, I didn't love the book.

The author, Napolean Hill, was from the "New Thought" movement, which ultimately paved the way for the harmful rise of the prosperity gospel amongst Western culture. Although, highly motivational in theory, it can be very harmful in practice.

There were some helpful thoughts scattered throughout the book, such as, creating vision for yourself, setting tangible goals, positive self talk, etc. However, the focus on money and achievement as the ultimate means to happiness is foolish and misguided. Yes, many of the men that Hill interviewed were "successful" by the worlds standards, but spiritually poor. I also was put off by the section where he wouldn't let his deaf son learn sign language so that he could integrate into society. Ultimately, why couldn't his son have done both?

At the end of the day, positivity is a helpful tool, but it can't be a messiah.

Every now and then I come across a book which makes me feel that I have wasted my precious time reading it. And this book is one of them. It's a matter of reading preference and books like these aren't the ones I want to spend my lifetime reading. Never mind the 4.11 rating people have given this, I really couldn't rate it anything beyond 0.11. If GoodReads had that option, I would have settled for that rating only. This book is a piece of crap!

I am ambitious and I have an insatiable hunger for growth but this book couldn't make them feel more in anyway.

This book has many advantages over other self help books. 1. It does not teach that just thinking about something will make it happen. It teaches that you have to DO something to make it happen. 2. It teaches how to go about figuring out what you want and pursuing your dreams. 3. This book is relatively old yet still sells so it has passed some test of time.

The Good:
Teaches how to go about making life goals and plans. Shows how to believe in yourself and make things happen. Shows the importance of having specialized knowledge and leadership skills. Shows the importance of having creativity and a scientific mind. The book makes you think because Napolean Hill puts things in his terms through his own philosophy. As he says this book is a philosophy of success. So there is a lot to the book and a lot can be mined out of it multiple times.

The Bad: There are some difficult to understand sections, and you have to put up with some new agey bullcrap to get to the goods. The author also assumes that all poor people are poor because they choose to be. But he never really faces up to the fact that rich people often do abuse those who work for them, and keep many poor people down. He also does not face up to the fact that there are life circumstances that keep people down (he will emphasize you can get out of them).

The Ugly: Thinks the world would be a better place if Christians and Jews had cooperated with Islam. Teaches there are no miracles, and there is no supernatural. He is a new agey type pantheist. He teaches his philosophy of success through this lenses so you have to think for yourself, and as my teacher said eat chicken, but do not swallow the bones.

I’d wanted to read a classic self-help book, and several modern motivational speakers have credited Napoleon Hill. This book was written in the US in 1937, during recovery from the Great Depression. Hill asserts that the Great Depression was worsened by mass fear, and this concept seems just as valid in today’s economy. Much of what is offered in “The Secret,” including that now-trademarked name (a term that Hill coined but failed to copyright), is a direct rip-off from Hill.

Hill was challenged by his friend Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world, to find out how people made money, in an era where most people did not. Hill spent many years interviewing powerful men of the era (powerful women in that era being very few), for example Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Charles Schwab, and of course Carnegie. During a 20-year period, Hill distilled his findings into 17 principles by which to get rich and powerful. He hastens to point out that richness and power is not just about money, but about quality of life and achievement of goals. He even states that Mahatma Gandhi was the most powerful man living at the time, and that he also applied these principles to achieve that power.

Some of the concepts are old school: hard work, planning and persistence, for example. However, he was the first to suggest positive self-talk, imagination, and visualization as tools for achievement. He also offers some surprisingly modern ideas such as transmutation of sexual energy, sixth sense or intuition, and imagining wise counsel from a “Cabinet” of people one admires. He devotes a chapter to harnessing fear, giving tips on overcoming the “six basic fears” including fear of death and fear of ill health.

Although some of the material seems dated, I understand that an updated edition has been released that corrects this. While not written in a style I enjoy, I can appreciate the concepts that Hill pioneered that are still popular in self-help books today.

In this oft-referenced self-help classic, Napoleon Hill promises to share the secret of the wealthiest people of his time (this book was published in 1937). At Andrew Carnegie's bidding, he spent 20 years interviewing and studying over 500 people, including Henry Ford, John Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Marshall Field, Charles Schwab, and Alexander Graham Bell.

Did I discover the "secret" that will launch me to world-renowned success? Unfortunately, not that I'm aware. Do I have a better understanding of the psychology behind success or failure? Yes. I also realize how important it is to set a high goal, review it daily, and constantly work toward it.

Quick summary: "Anybody can wish for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that a definite plan plus a burning desire for wealth are the only dependable means of accumulating it."

The book contains a lot of practical advice on being successful, but it's mainly focused on the psychological motivation behind it. Although most of it's sound, there are some sections that are of questionable scientific validity, and some pure pseudoscience. For example, Hill believes that all human brains are connected by the "vibrating energy of thought", and that people can connect to the "Infinite Intelligence" - a cosmic force permeating all matter and energy.

Other nonsense presented as fact: telepathy, clairvoyance, ESP, precognition. These parts reminded me of some of the pseudoscience in The Power of Positive Thinking. At first I was concerned about Hill's mental state and ability to separate fact from fantasy when he described his imaginary meetings with a group of notable dead and living men he called his "Invisible Counselors". On second thought, however, I can see how imagining the advice that great people might give could help you make better decisions.

Here are the 13 Steps to Riches presented in the book, supposedly containing the great secret to wealth:

13 Steps to Riches
1. Desire
Have a burning desire for something definite (money, etc.).
Create a plan to obtain a definite amount of money through the sale of specific goods and services by a set date.
"See and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money."

2. Faith
Believe in your idea.
Your self-confidence will influence your thoughts and actions.

3. Autosuggestion
Concentrate on your desire and faith, and your subconscious will create practical plans for obtaining your desire/money.

4. Specialized knowledge
Use your expertise and imagination to come up with ideas that earn far more than any job.

5. Imagination
Hard work and honesty alone won't make you rich.
Ideas become money through a definite purpose plus a definite plan.
Form definite plans to turn your ideas into money.

6. Organized planning
Create a practical plan for acquiring money.
Provide great service and convince others that you're worth the money you demand.
Follow the QQS Formula for service:
- Quality: be efficient, and increase in efficiency
- Quantity: give all the service you can, and improve through practice and experience
- Spirit: be agreeable and harmonious with others

7. Decision
Make decisions quickly and definitely; change them slowly.
Base decisions on your desire and your own opinions (not others').

8. Persistence
Have the willpower to follow your desire and plans despite obstacles and criticism.

9. Master Mind
Surround yourself with like-minded, intelligent people. This is your brain trust or think tank.
With your Master Mind group, coordinate your knowledge and effort to attain your desire.

10. Sex transmutation
Channel your sexual energy into creative energy.
Limit yourself to a moderate amount of sex and use your remaining energy to drive creativity and enthusiasm.

11. Subconscious mind
Plant your desires in your subconscious for it to work toward 24/7.
Fill your mind with positive emotions so that negative ones can't enter.

12. The brain
Send thoughts with your subconscious, receive thoughts with your creative imagination, and use autosuggestion.

13. Sixth Sense
Meditate to become attuned to inspiration and creative imagination.

Other notes
Don't expect poverty; demand riches.
The only thing you can absolutely control in life is your thoughts. Control your mind through self-discipline and habit.
Don't use the basic fears as excuses; overcome them through positive thinking - fears of poverty, criticism, illness, loss of love, old age, and death. Don't worry and don't be susceptible to negative influences.

My favorite part of the book was the poem in the Desire chapter: "My Wage" by Jessie Belle Rittenhouse:

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.

There are some valuable things to pick up from this book but it definitely tested my patience, it's so repetitive and annoying and philosophical and abstract.
But it's something that takes time to absorb. I will probably come back to it in the future, when I need a dose of motivation.

Another book about the power of positive thinking

This book came to me at a time where I needed it. Napoleon hills writing gave me a sense of purpose it helped me reach a certain track in a time where I was lost and couldn't find my way. The first few chapters where really great to read additionally the last few chapters are also enjoyable the only problem of this book is that when you get toward the middle the chapters are kind of boring and I disliked the way the writer repeated the same things over and over again and he emphasized things that needn't be given that importance. Also in some way the writer gets carried away and it's inspirational but stupid to associate success with qualities of fairy tales princesses as I saw it.
Okay, I agree that it's the atmosphere of the book and that taste of hope that made it stand out but I still believe that the middle chapters could have been more realistic and more meaningful if they were more similar to the later and early ones.
One of the best notions of this book in my opinion is the one about the imaginary counselors where one puts around a table a number of person he regards as idols or successful people in life and he realize which characteristics he likes more about each one before imagining scenarios of their interaction with him which would ultimately result in him being a little more like the good quality he regards.
The book gets pretty boring and repetitive, not to mention the unrealistic advices because we have to face it it’s just a commercial book to sell and make money. This book offers a tinge of hope to people who are desperate for it and that’s one of the main reasons for the success it got.
Overall it's a rather okay book to read just for the sake of having done so( and you may actually like it or something) but definitely not one to read on a one night shot.

Want to get rich?

Don't waste your hard earned money on "Get Rich Quick" books.

Summary: What the mind can conceive, AND believe, it WILL achieve.

Every word in that summary is important. This book ultimately regards how you think and how your thoughts will get you to wherever you choose. Dating back to the post Depression era, Napoleon Hill does a great job in a theory-based piece on the psychology of thought and how it prevents or supports our dreams.

Every thing, action, circumstance, failure, or success is spawned by one -- thought. It is your thoughts and the way you develop and guide your thoughts that will bring you to wherever you want to be. I felt like this book's title is hardly doing it justice because the THINK part resonates with any aspect of your life. Think And Grow Rich, Think and Grow Happy, Think And Grow Religious, Think And Grow Successful, Think And Grow Into A Good Parent, whatever. Monitor and guide your thoughts and you'll get anywhere you want.

I give it four stars because 1 - the author often gets into such distant levels of English that it's hard to reciprocate well, 2 - some chapters are a bit out there, things like sex transmutation, ESP, and creating a mastermind group in your head with Abe Lincoln at the table, 3 - a small portion of the author's findings are a bit outdated, but this is hardly a negative because 90% of this book is timeless, and lastly 4 - only because in audiobook format it is very hard to follow. After completing it once, it ultimately is a reference manual. I'll certainly return to it in book form, not audiobook.

If you're willing to really be self critical and apply the teachings Hill suggests, you'll indeed be in better shape. But it won't be overnight. Overall a good read that I recommend.

The mind cannot differentiate between truth and falsehood, we simply need to instruct or manipulate it toward a certain mode!


'Think and Grow Rich' by Napoleon Hill, takes an in depth look at the power of the mind and personal belief and how these influence our success. Hill uses examples of past success such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to show how factors such as desire, the subconscious mind, faith and goals can interweave to create favorable condition for success.

The title of this book can be quite deceiving. I thought it would be a get rich quick book but was pleasantly surprised. Hill used timeless principles to illustrate the power of the mind, visualization and channeling our desires to attaining financial greatness. While the book was written many years ago, the principles demonstrated here in fact serve as guides to modern day self-help programs and books. The chapter on autosuggestion showing how we have the power to direct our minds toward achieving a certain goal fascinated me. Hill shows how the mind cannot differentiate between truth and falsehood, we simply need to instruct or manipulate it toward a certain mode.

This is a must read for everyone, regardless of your professional background. The insight you receive here will help you move from procrastination and fear to actualizing your goals.

When my dad introduced me to this book he made it sound like every second I wasn't reading it was wasted. I was skeptical. After all, the book was written in 1960, and I hadn't ever heard of it. But I gave it a try, just so my dad would drop it.
What I discovered is that rich people are rich because they're eccentric. Well, maybe not eccentric, but definitely obsessed with the idea of making money. I guess the one good thing this book did for me was help me realize what it would take for me to become rich. I'd have to forget distractions, such as my family, my church, and my health, and develop an all-consuming lust for wealth. The bottom line is that if I want money I have to love it and hunger after it and dream about it every waking minute of my life. I think Napoleon is right. Anyone that obsessed with money probably will get rich sooner or later. But I read another good book recently that took a slightly different view. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Admittedly, the principals of "tunnel-vision" and psychotic-level tenacity can work with other goals in your life. But the only healthy obsession I can think of is one of reaching out to those around you, lifting up the downtrodden, and in fact laying up treasures in heaven. Why would I need this book to tell me how to do that when we've already got one that does its job pretty well.
I think the sequel to this book should be entitled, I'M FINALLY RICH: SO WHY AM I NOT HAPPY?