Think and Grow Rich: Difference between revisions
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'''''Think and Grow Rich''''' is a book written by [[Napoleon Hill]] released in 1937 and promoted as a [[personal development]] and [[self-improvement]] book. |
'''''Think and Grow Rich''''' is a book written by [[Napoleon Hill]] and Rosa Lee Beeland released in 1937 and promoted as a [[personal development]] and [[self-improvement]] book. He claimed to be inspired by a suggestion from [[business magnate]] and later-[[philanthropist]] [[Andrew Carnegie]]. However, there is no evidence that the two ever met. |
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The book is considered a classic in the personal development genre and has been widely influential in shaping the way people think about success and wealth |
The book is considered a classic in the personal development genre and has been widely influential in shaping the way people think about success and wealth. |
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[[File:Napoleon Hill holding book 1937.jpg|thumb|140px|right|Napoleon Hill holding his book ''Think and Grow Rich'']] |
[[File:Napoleon Hill holding book 1937.jpg|thumb|140px|right|Napoleon Hill holding his book ''Think and Grow Rich'']] |
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== History == |
== History == |
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In 1935, Napoleon Hill's second wife Florence filed for and received a divorce. In 1936, Napoleon met Rosa Lee Beeland when she attended one of his lectures. He proposed the next day and they were soon married. Unable to afford a place of their own, they moved in with Hill and Florence's son, Blair, in [[New York City]]. Following a few months of this living arrangement, Blair's wife, Vera, left due to Hill's harassment and abuse. Blair left shortly thereafter. Before leaving, however, Blair gave his father and Rosa a loan to continue work on their new book, ''Think and Grow Rich''.<ref name=":0"/> |
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Oliver Napoleon Hill was born in Wise County, Virginia to James and Sara Hill on October 26, 1883. Raised in a tiny cabin in a rural area, Hill experienced poverty first-hand at a young age. |
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In 1893 at the age of 9, Hill's mother dies. |
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''Think and Grow Rich'' was published in 1937 and became a major commercial success. Beeland contributed substantially to the authoring and editing of ''Think and Grow Rich''.<ref name="Lingeman"/> Hill and Beeland divorced in 1940, with the latter retaining the royalties from the book, given that they had been put in her name to protect them from any claims made by Hill's second wife, Florence, and her children. Hill and Beeland reportedly never repaid Blair for the $300 loan with Rosa taunting Blair about the matter.<ref name=":0"/> |
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In 1898 Hill begins his writing career, taking a job as a "mountain reporter" for several small rural newspapers. |
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In 1900 Hill graduates from high school, and leaves Wise County. |
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After several years working for a prominent lawyer, managing a coal mine, and sales manager of a lumberyard, Hill returns to work as a journalist. |
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As a part of his work on a series on famous men for ''Bob Taylor's Magazine'', Napoleon Hill interviews Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie, having been born into extreme poverty himself and becoming the richest man in the world, believes that success can be boiled down into simple principles that would make it attainable for any person of any background. |
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==Summary== |
==Summary== |
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''Think and Grow Rich'' |
''Think and Grow Rich'' is based on Hill's earlier work ''[[The Law of Success]]'', claims to be the result of more than twenty years of study of many individuals who had amassed personal fortunes. Hill studied their habits and drew some 16 "laws" to be applied to achieve success. ''Think and Grow Rich'' condenses them, providing the reader with 14 principles in the form of a "Philosophy of Achievement".<ref name=lifetime>Michael J. Ritt and Kirk Landers, ''A Lifetime of Riches: The Biography of Napoleon Hill''. Revised edition 1995, {{ISBN|0-525-94146-0}}.</ref> |
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The main theme of the book is that anyone can achieve success and wealth by following a certain set of principles. Hill identifies these principles as the "13 Steps to Riches," which include developing a positive mental attitude, setting clear and specific goals, developing a plan to achieve those goals, taking action, and maintaining a strong belief in oneself and one's capabilities. |
The main theme of the book is that anyone can achieve success and wealth by following a certain set of principles. Hill identifies these principles as the "13 Steps to Riches," which include developing a positive mental attitude, setting clear and specific goals, developing a plan to achieve those goals, taking action, and maintaining a strong belief in oneself and one's capabilities. |
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13. The Sixth Sense: Trust your intuition and inner guidance to help you make the right decisions and achieve your goals. |
13. The Sixth Sense: Trust your intuition and inner guidance to help you make the right decisions and achieve your goals. |
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== |
== Accuracy == |
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Although Hill claims to have had a pivotal conversation with Andrew Carnegie in 1908, there is no record of the two having met. Hill spent much of the year on the run from the authorities for committing lumber fraud in Alabama. Hill did not claim to have met Carnegie until after Carnegie's death in 1918. Aside from Hill's writings, there are no accounts of the meeting taking place. Carnegie biographer [[David Nasaw]] stated that he "found no evidence of any sort that Carnegie and Hill ever met" or "that the book was authentic."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-untold-story-of-napoleon-hill-the-greatest-self-he-1789385645|title=The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time|last=Novak|first=Matt|website=Paleofuture (Gizmodo)|date=December 6, 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-13}}</ref> |
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Andrew Carnegie is considered the father of modern philanthropy, because he wrote some of the seminal works promoting the societal duties that come along with men of great achievement. In his book, ''The Gospel of Wealth'', Andrew Carnegie quotes the bible passage, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Carnegie uses this passage in order to promote the importance of wealthy people doing something useful with their wealth before they pass on. |
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There are no known records of Hill meeting the famous men he claimed to have interviewed; that is, besides a brief encounter with Thomas Edison.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Farnham|first1=Alan|date=7 August 1995|title=Seamy Side Of A Self-Help Swami A New Biography Reveals That Napoleon Hill, Author Of Think & Grow Rich, Which Has Sold Ten Million Copies, Knew Failure Well.|url=http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1995/08/07/205128/index.htm|access-date=18 June 2019|website=Fortune}}</ref> |
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Not only did Andrew Carnegie give back financially through the establishment of dozens or hundreds of public libraries across the America, but also Andrew decided that he would like for other people of modest backgrounds to be able to attain success. Firm in his belief that success begins with controlling your thoughts through concentration and persistence, Carnegie seizes the opportunity to recruit Hill when being interviewed for a magazine article of successful business leaders. |
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== Influence == |
== Influence == |
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First published during the [[Great Depression]],<ref name=lifetime/> it remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill's books. ''[[BusinessWeek]]'' magazine's Best-Seller List ranked it the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was published.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100613072501/http://www.businessweek.com/pdfs/2007/0703_bestsell.pdf ''The BusinessWeek Best-Seller List''], in: ''BusinessWeek magazine'', January 15, 2007.</ref> ''Think and Grow Rich'' is listed in [[John C. Maxwell]]'s ''A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List.''<ref>Maxwell, John, [http://blog.envole.net/doc/j/m/jm-lifetimebooklist.pdf ''A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List''], March 2008.</ref> |
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Hill, like many authors, experienced waves of inspiration. Some years he was very hopeful, other years he was not. Having written a large portion of ''Think and Grow Rich'' in a rough draft fashion, it had set aside for some time. During the Great Depression, Napoleon Hill had a vivid and influential dream in which Abraham Lincoln encouraged Hill that his book would be monumental in helping the nation and the world recover from the global economic collapse precipitated by the 1929 stock market crash. |
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Hill's biographers would later say this book sold 20 million copies over 50 years, although as Richard Lingeman remarks in his brief biography, "Alice Payne Hackett's '70 Years of Best Sellers' suggests the amount was considerably less."<ref name="Lingeman">{{cite news|last1=Lingeman|first1=Richard|title=How to Lose Friends and Alienate People|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/13/books/how-to-lose-friends-and-alienate-people.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=31 January 2017 |newspaper=New York Times|date=August 13, 1995}}</ref> |
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During the years 1933-1936, Hill served as Presidential Advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They collaborated with the media to persuade the nation to think a new thought. All the newspapers until that time were focused on the negative, using words like ''poverty'', ''catastrophe'', and ''hopeless''. Together they convinced the newspapers to print a different message. Using the power of collective thought, and focusing on positive visions of prosperity, they may have helped to shorten the intensity of the Great Depression. |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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Revision as of 20:34, 17 May 2024
 Original Hardcover | |
| Author | Napoleon Hill and Rosa Lee Beeland |
|---|---|
| Original title | Think and Grow Rich |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Personal-success Self-help |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | The Ralston Society |
Publication date | 1937 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book) |
| Pages | 238 pages |
| ISBN | 978-1-78844-102-5 |
| OCLC | 156886959 |
Think and Grow Rich is a book written by Napoleon Hill and Rosa Lee Beeland released in 1937 and promoted as a personal development and self-improvement book. He claimed to be inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. However, there is no evidence that the two ever met.
The book is considered a classic in the personal development genre and has been widely influential in shaping the way people think about success and wealth.
History
In 1935, Napoleon Hill's second wife Florence filed for and received a divorce. In 1936, Napoleon met Rosa Lee Beeland when she attended one of his lectures. He proposed the next day and they were soon married. Unable to afford a place of their own, they moved in with Hill and Florence's son, Blair, in New York City. Following a few months of this living arrangement, Blair's wife, Vera, left due to Hill's harassment and abuse. Blair left shortly thereafter. Before leaving, however, Blair gave his father and Rosa a loan to continue work on their new book, Think and Grow Rich.[1]
Think and Grow Rich was published in 1937 and became a major commercial success. Beeland contributed substantially to the authoring and editing of Think and Grow Rich.[2] Hill and Beeland divorced in 1940, with the latter retaining the royalties from the book, given that they had been put in her name to protect them from any claims made by Hill's second wife, Florence, and her children. Hill and Beeland reportedly never repaid Blair for the $300 loan with Rosa taunting Blair about the matter.[1]
Summary
Think and Grow Rich is based on Hill's earlier work The Law of Success, claims to be the result of more than twenty years of study of many individuals who had amassed personal fortunes. Hill studied their habits and drew some 16 "laws" to be applied to achieve success. Think and Grow Rich condenses them, providing the reader with 14 principles in the form of a "Philosophy of Achievement".[3]
The main theme of the book is that anyone can achieve success and wealth by following a certain set of principles. Hill identifies these principles as the "13 Steps to Riches," which include developing a positive mental attitude, setting clear and specific goals, developing a plan to achieve those goals, taking action, and maintaining a strong belief in oneself and one's capabilities.
The 13 steps to riches, as outlined in "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, are:
1. Desire: Start with a strong desire or burning ambition to achieve a specific goal or outcome.
2. Faith: Have unwavering faith in yourself and your ability to achieve your goal.
3. Autosuggestion: Use positive self-talk and affirmations to reinforce your beliefs and goals.
4. Specialized knowledge: Acquire the knowledge and skills needed to achieve your goal.
5. Imagination: Use your imagination to visualize your goal and see yourself achieving it.
6. Organized planning: Develop a detailed plan of action to achieve your goal.
7. Decision: Make a firm decision to follow through on your plan and never give up.
8. Persistence: Keep working towards your goal, even when faced with obstacles or setbacks.
9. Power of the Master Mind: Surround yourself with like-minded people who support and encourage you.
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation: Use the power of your sexual energy to fuel your desire and drive.
11. The Subconscious Mind: Tap into the power of your subconscious mind to help you achieve your goals.
12. The Brain: Use your brain to analyze and plan, and to make decisions and take action.
13. The Sixth Sense: Trust your intuition and inner guidance to help you make the right decisions and achieve your goals.
Accuracy
Although Hill claims to have had a pivotal conversation with Andrew Carnegie in 1908, there is no record of the two having met. Hill spent much of the year on the run from the authorities for committing lumber fraud in Alabama. Hill did not claim to have met Carnegie until after Carnegie's death in 1918. Aside from Hill's writings, there are no accounts of the meeting taking place. Carnegie biographer David Nasaw stated that he "found no evidence of any sort that Carnegie and Hill ever met" or "that the book was authentic."[1]
There are no known records of Hill meeting the famous men he claimed to have interviewed; that is, besides a brief encounter with Thomas Edison.[4]
Influence
First published during the Great Depression,[3] it remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill's books. BusinessWeek magazine's Best-Seller List ranked it the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was published.[5] Think and Grow Rich is listed in John C. Maxwell's A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List.[6]
Hill's biographers would later say this book sold 20 million copies over 50 years, although as Richard Lingeman remarks in his brief biography, "Alice Payne Hackett's '70 Years of Best Sellers' suggests the amount was considerably less."[2]
Notes
- ^ a b c Novak, Matt (December 6, 2016). "The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill, the Greatest Self-Help Scammer of All Time". Paleofuture (Gizmodo). Retrieved 2019-08-13.
- ^ a b Lingeman, Richard (August 13, 1995). "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". New York Times. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
- ^ a b Michael J. Ritt and Kirk Landers, A Lifetime of Riches: The Biography of Napoleon Hill. Revised edition 1995, ISBN 0-525-94146-0.
- ^ Farnham, Alan (7 August 1995). "Seamy Side Of A Self-Help Swami A New Biography Reveals That Napoleon Hill, Author Of Think & Grow Rich, Which Has Sold Ten Million Copies, Knew Failure Well". Fortune. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- ^ The BusinessWeek Best-Seller List, in: BusinessWeek magazine, January 15, 2007.
- ^ Maxwell, John, A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List, March 2008.
Further reading
- Hill, Napoleon (1937). Think And Grow Rich. The Ralston Society. ISBN 978-1-78844-102-5. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude, by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone. ISBN 1-4165-4159-4.
- Earl Nightingale Reads Think and Grow Rich [The essence of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich], by Earl Nightingale. ISBN 1-4558-1011-8.
- The Biblical Companion Guide to Think & Grow Rich, by Joshua J. Finley. ISBN 9798603771335