كان هذا الكتاب ترشيح من صديقة عزيزة ، إنتابني الفضول لأرى كيف سأزداد ثراء إن فكرت أو بالأحرى طريقة التفكير السليمة لجعلي أثر ثراءا

I originally read this book as part of a business mentorship program. I admit, I had some mental blockage when I started reading it, and only because I had personal fears and doubts about finances that I have since addressed by self-educating (see other recommended financial books on my list) and seeking assistance from qualified professionals with a good frame of reference for what I needed advice on (I love my financial advisor, Jason!). My picture of growing "rich" in the beginning was, like, Scrooge McDuck sitting on a mound of moneybags grasping fistfulls of cash, or a snakey ass backwards crooked business guy who favors profit over all else at the expense of humanity and the environment. Of course I don't want to be that way, who does?! This book helped me detatch from some emotional and fear based patterns I discovered within, and helped me get OK with making and managing money. This is an instruction manual for creating a prosperity based mentality and then putting it to good use. There are step by step instructions and exercises involved, and as usual, what you put into it is what you'll get out of it.

This got weird quickly. Some good points, but they're overshadowed by sexist and ableist points. The author is currently spending this chapter detailing an imaginary "cabinet" meeting he held with Lincoln and Napoleon, among others. No, thank you. Also, the author repeatedly stresses that it's rare for anyone to have self-insight, self-control over sexual impulses, or accomplish anything substantial before their 40s or 50s.

Napoleon Hill presents each part of this book as a "definite plan" with "definite steps towards obtaining riches." Instead, what he presents is line after line of trite motivation intermixed with pure gold nuggets of jaw dropping wisdom.

Here's a wonderful little snippet:

"Baldheaded men, for example, are bald for no other reason than their fear of criticism. Heads become bald because of the tight fitting bands of hats which cut off the circulation from the roots of the hair."

Hill repeatedly and confidently spews this kind of nonsense. Another similar case was explaining the reason doctors don't get sick (hint: it's because they aren't afraid of getting sick). Another testimonial to just "desiring" something and making it happen involved a preacher who wanted a million bucks, and sure enough, someone gave it to him. Sorry, but that's not how this world works.

I only finished this book due to the rave reviews it got elsewhere. If you want to get rich, start by saving your money and not buying this book.

That was painful. While there were many great points made in this book, the examples were so dated that being able to identify with them was almost impossible. Furthermore, I felt the book rambled and I found myself skimming most of the time. My dislike for the book could have been the edition that I read; my edition was very disjointed and there were many formatting and typographical errors. Regardless, because we live in an age of the accessibility of high volumes of information, I didn't have the patience to read through what I considered to be too much elaboration on the most basic and fundamental ideas.

Libro superficial y patético de superación personal. Libro que tal vez en su época tenía algo de interés, pero la mención de personajes históricos sin considerar la totalidad de sus aportes, tanto positivos como negativos, hacen del autor un individuo que trate de usar lo que le conviene para guiar su mensaje.
Existen libros de superación personal de mejores cualidades, actualizados y que no tratan de aparentar una grandielocuencia inexistente.

Overview: 60% brilliant, 30% obvious, 10% batshit crazy - and 100% worth reading

Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" is about more than getting rich: it's about getting what you want. And while his no-bullshit insights come with a liberal dose of craziness and – well – bullshit, his overarching philosophy is spot-on. Hill's recipe boils down to this: to get what you want you must 1) desire, 2) believe, 3) act, and 4) persist.

First, the battiness
Hill's advice is always useful, even if not always completely truthful. For instance, he repeatedly claims that "thoughts can affect mother nature." I don't think this is true, and Hill doesn't provide any evidence to support his claim, but his reader might be better off believing it. Because thoughts do profoundly affect you. And if you think you can affect nature by thought alone, and "think" accordingly, the impact this will have on your beliefs and your actions can be profound.

"Lack of evidence" is a common theme through "Think and Grow Rich." Some of the claims Hill makes are pretty crazy, though they're presented as if they were glaringly obvious and unquestionably true. He often states that a claim has been "proved" where it's simply been stated. You'll read about the transmutation of the subconscious, about how thought vibrations travel through the ether, and how to plant creativity in your subconscious via communication with the infinite intelligence. The book is heavy on mystical musings and light on facts. That said, I don't think these bits of battiness detract from Hill's core message, and if anything, my occasional outrage kept me engaged.

Onto practical matters: The first step towards riches is DESIRE
On first glance, this statement might seem banal, or even tautological: if you want riches, the first step is to… want riches. But Hill's advice cuts much deeper than this. It is not enough to want riches, or to wish you had them. Hill means something more radical: you must have a burning desire to be rich. If you fail in this regard, you will fail to achieve your (vaguely) desired goal.

Hill gives some concrete advice for nurturing desire. First, you must define your purpose. Only then can you become consumed by it. Hill's recipe for making desire concrete is this: decide exactly how much money you desire; establish a definite date by which you intend to possess it; create a definite plan; write it down; and read your written statement aloud - twice when you wake up, and twice before you go to bed. Become so obsessed with desire that you already see yourself in possession of the money

But don't kid yourself into thinking desire will be enough: "wishing will not bring riches... [only] planning definite ways... and backing those plans with persistence" will. Take, then, this burning desire, and put all your effort behind it. I love Hill's emphasis on action: you are instructed to be a practical dreamer. It's not enough to 'decide' you're totally committed: act accordingly. Cut off all sources of retreat, Hill tells us. Burn all bridges behind you, so that you win or perish. The tone here might be a little extreme, but his message carries crisp and clear: don't half-ass it.

Include liberal doses of FAITH
It is impossible to translate burning desire into action without belief. You must have faith: you must believe in your plan, and more importantly, believe in yourself. Of course, this is easier said than done. One concrete way to foster faith is through autosuggestion. The idea here is that you can come to believe something by repeating it to yourself sufficiently. Repetition of thought is powerful, and Hill claims it's the best way to influence your subconscious mind – the presumed bastion of belief.

This might come off as a little crazy, but Hill elaborates: repetition alone isn't enough. The mere reading of words is of no consequence unless you mix in strong emotions. Desire is one such emotion. Thus, if we've followed Hill's first step and developed a burning desire, it will be that much easier to apply autosuggestion to foster a sense of faith. And believing in yourself, and in your plan, is absolutely crucial. This might all be getting a little speculative, but so far, I'm inclined to agree with Hill.

A short aside on transmutation: the mystical powers of sex and the subconscious
It's only when Hill starts discussing the power of belief that I find myself getting incredulous. Hill claims that belief is "picked up by the subconscious mind and transmuted to its physical equivalent." If by this Hill means 'your beliefs will affect your own actions,' then I agree. If instead he means 'your beliefs themselves can influence physical reality,' then I disagree - or at least I would love to be presented with evidence.

And indeed, you soon discover that Hill does mean the latter. He explains that our brains are connected by vibrations of thought, and that these vibrations connect us to the "infinite intelligence" – whatever that is. Hill confidently states that there is an undiscovered organ in the brain that receives 'vibrations of thought' – called hunches – from this infinite intelligence. Once these hunches have been captured, our subconscious mind will hand them over to our conscious mind in a flash of inspiration. And this, he claims, is how to get your plan for riches. As best I could tell, this is what Hill means by "transmutation of thought."

It's my opinion that Hill here is liberally dipping into craziness – and he doesn't stop there. "Sex transmutation" comes next. We're told that "sex energy" is "creative energy," and you're implored to "harness and transmute" your desire for sex to lift yourself to a "higher sphere of thought." Harnessing sexual energy, it seems, will help you capture those aforementioned hunches. Here, at least, Hill offers some circumstantial evidence: apparently, many of the highly successfully men he studied were "highly sexed." Again, I'm not quite sure what this means, and I'm not quite sure how he was able to ascertain the sexual nature of so many strangers, but there you have it.

There is no substitute for PERSISTENCE
Back to practical matters: we've discussed desire and belief, and the need to "act" has been referred to throughout. The final ingredient is persistence. Without persistence, you will fail. Unfortunately, lack of persistence is a "weakness common to the majority of men." Fortunately, it can be overcome, and the ease with which it may be conquered "depends entirely on the intensity of one's desire." Of course, it's hard to 'learn persistence,' since you need to be persistent in the first place to be able to successfully employ a 'persistence enhancing technique.'

That said, Hill does give some good 'persistence enhancing' advice, which amounts to restating the advice that’s been given thus far. The key, again, is to have a definite purpose and a burning desire for its fulfillment. You must then transform that purpose into a definite plan, and immediately act. Consciously conquer procrastination and indecision. Throughout, guard your mind against negative and discouraging influences. And finally, form a "master mind alliance" – a coordination of knowledge and effort, for the attainment of a definite purpose – consisting of people who will encourage you to follow through with your plan and your purpose.

Conclusiont
Hill might be a little crazy, and his writing style is a bit over the top. He tends to take on the tone of a late night infomercial ("I have never known anyone who was inspired to use the secret, who did not achieve noteworthy success in his chosen calling") and he has an troll-like propensity to go into all-caps mode ("ALL ACHIEVEMENT, ALL EARNED RICHES, HAVE THEIR BEGINNING IN AN IDEA!"). More critically, some of the particular things he says are at odds with his philosophy as a whole ("these steps call for no hard labor. They call for no sacrifice"). The danger is that these are the statements readers latch on to, and lose the forest for the trees.

And this would be a shame, for when all is said and done, "Think and Grow Rich" is terrific book. Hill is passionate, and his advice is refreshingly practical. The above caveat aside, Hill tells it like it is. He decries the "universal weakness of lack of ambition" and our "national pastime of trying to get without giving". He explains that people mistake their wants for their just dues, and is explicit on the fact that you can't get something for nothing: "there is but one dependable method for accumulating, and legally holding riches, and that is by rendering useful service."

Mystical musings aside, Hill's philosophy makes sense, and not in the vague "no shit, Sherlock" sense. He believes that "riches begin in the form of thought," and he makes this claim concrete. Desire, believe, act, and persist, he advises. If you do these things, you cannot fail – and never forget that "a quitter never wins-and-a winner never quits."

So I do realize this book was written in the 1930s so that may be why I thought it was ridiculous. I found it contradicting. The author would say don't wait on luck or chance but put your faith in some higher power but not a deity. But that seems to be a type of luck or chance to me. Also, he mentioned all this research he has done but it is not cited anywhere. Maybe the most recent version would be better but I would not recommend this to ANYONE.

All I can say is.........

Think And grow Rich is one of the most prestigious and treasured book in the field of motivational literature. This book can help you reach your highest potential and bring you great personal happiness. Napoleon Hill gives you a blue print for self-mastery helping you accomplish whatever goal you have set up for yourself.
Napoleon Hill mentions that every page within the book contains a magical secret that, once discovered, will unlock the key to making money and becoming wealthy beyond your current wildest dreams. This makes every reader study the book at a deeper level, searching each page for this secret. There is a secret within the book, but, I recommend you study the book several times and do all the exercises Napoleon Hill recommends. These exercises are designed to help you develop the level of skill where success becomes natural. There are 13 main chapters within think and grow rich.
The principles and philosophy of success that Napoleon Hill outlined in his masterwork, Think and Grow Rich, have served as the foundation for every rich sucessful man and woman around. You will gain deeper insight into Hill's philosophy as you learn interpret and apply the seventeen universal principles of success. You'll learn how to turn setbacks into a springboard of achievement, generate attention for your ideas, influence others and improve personal relationships and above all define your true joy in life achieve financial success. Think And Grow Rich is a working blueprint for a life of prosperity - that will give you powerful tools to achieve your dreams.

اكتب هدفك الماليّ أمامك
اقرأه أوّل اليوم ووسطه وآخره
خطط لهدفك الماليّ واسع إليه
ردّد هدفك بصوت عال يوميًا
خصّص عشر دقائق لتخيّل هدفك
تخيّل الهدف والذبذبات ستجذبه لك

يغرف كتّاب التنمية البشريّة من آنية هراء واحد


ملاحظات شخصيّة على كتب التنمية البشريّة
https://youtu.be/SedBOG9u93w

A lot of people I know speak very highly of this book. I disagree. It was so terrible I couldn't stomach finishing it. This is the early predecessor to the contemporary fantasy called "The Secret" - just think hard enough about what you want and it will happen. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's bullshit. Regardless of what Napoleon Hill supposedly researched, desire alone is not a determinant of success.

Don't waste your time and energy on this book. Instead, go read "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" from Ramit Sethi for actionable advice on how to build your financial success, or "The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman for a real primer on how business works.

- DESIRE: THE STARTING POINT OF ALL ACHIEVEMENT
- nu te lasa descurajat de insuccese. Dimpotriva acestea trebuie sa te motiveze
- Wishing will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches.
- To all these I wish to convey the thought that all achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or its purpose, must begin with an intense, BURNING DESIRE for something definite.
- FAITH is a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconscious mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion.
- FAITH IS A STATE OF MIND WHICH MAY BE INDUCED BY AUTOSUGGESTION
- FAITH is the “eternal elixir” which gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought!