Think And Grow Rich Original 1937 Edition Paperback – April 4, 1937

It is a classic for a reason. I've heard about that book for years, and finally decided to read it. It shares a lot of ideas about mindset and achieving success. I think it's still relevant today.It talks about having a strong desire and being persistent. Those are good lessons for anyone. I found some of the advice inspiring. That book made me think about my own goals. It made me consider how I think about success.It's a bit old-fashioned in some ways, but the core ideas are still powerful. I think that anyone who wants to improve their life can learn something from it. It's a good book to read.

On many levels, I enjoyed and learned very much from the reading of this book. Despite the book's age, there are many relevant lessons that apply today just as much as when the book was written. There are many applicable lessons to be learned from Think and Grow Rich. I loved the style of writing from the era, and even certain words that are not commonly used as much these days. There is a good chance that I will be reading this again one day.I am particularly pleased that I read the unedited original version. I can't fathom someone who would want to read the newer "politically correct version." Part of the learning benefit from this book comes from reading it as it was originally intended, so as to compare the great and profound ways that we have changed as a society and as people on so many levels. In contrast, there are ways of humanity that have endured consistently with the human experience overall.This book is not without aspects that I disagree with though, one for instance has Napoleon stating a most preposterous reason for why men become bald:"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."Despite such a silly statement, I appreciated reading it for the main reason that he, as we all do in our respective era, have imperfections that we cannot help. This era no doubt predated the discovery that male pattern baldness is in fact genetic. He goes on to say that men also lose their hair because their hats are "too tight."A passage shortly after boasts a huge stereotype about women by saying:"But it must not be supposed that women are free from the fear of criticism. If any woman claims to be superior to man with reference to this fear, ask her to walk down the street wearing a hat of the vintage of 1890."I am certainly not offended by this, but in fact appreciated reading it in the unedited version because we get a real sense of where people and society were at in this day. On one hand, many women of today still care very much about fashion, on the other, some would be repulsed by what here is a massive generalization, as if women only would care about fashion and nothing else. Furthermore that women evidently couldn't be imagined as fearing criticism of things more commonly known to men in the day like differing politics, or equality in the workplace etc. just as a few examples.It's obvious that Napoleon intended to be speaking predominantly to men with this book even though the lessons are surely potentially relevant and empowering to women for all the same reasons that they are good for men. It's also for sure that some women will not be able to get through this book because of it, but as I said, such social distinctions and observations are riveting for me to realize, and I would suggest that enlightened women read it and appreciate it for the same reasons.Despite these two silly aspects that stood out like sore thumbs, I really did get very much profound meaning out of this reading. It is certainly catered more to men than women, and the sexism is readily apparent in this way. However, this is not a reason not to read this book. It could be seen as a reason to read it indeed because I get a strong sense that we have progressed as a society. This philosophy book of success shouldn't merely be about success, but we should also be able to measure our own progress as a society by reflecting upon some of the obviously sillier things that are written here, of which there are few to be sure.I otherwise loved so much of the writing. There were many inspirational stories and ideas about how to succeed that are as valid today as they were in 1936.I'm not going to summarize the whole book, except to reiterate once more that there are many insightful and powerful life lessons within that can help both men and women succeed.If I thought this book were boring or inherently for the most part dogmatic, I would not be able to finish it. It easily sparked and kept my interest which made it easy to get through. No problem. It was well worth the money. I wouldn't spend a penny on the edited version.4.5 Stars might be just about right, but nonetheless, this was different, special and memorable for me to read.

This is a very unusual book. When I first encountered it as a young man, I hastily filed it in the category of "get-rich-quick" books, which I despised. Revisiting it decades later forces me to admit that there must be something to this book.For one thing, glance through the reviews here. There are so many positive reviews which say "This book worked for me," and the negative reviewers basically say, "I read it and I think it's junk" or "I read it and nothing happened." Negative reviews which just say "I read the book" strike me as nearly self-contradictory, because you cannot read this book without realizing that the author himself says, many times, that just "reading" --- processing it through your rational brain --- will accomplish precisely nothing. The book is a blueprint for action, and if you don't take the action yourself, nothing will happen.Still, I know a lot of people who have grown rich without doing any of the advanced practices recommended here. But I have to admit, those people had a lot of the qualities which this book seeks to develop: setting goals, concentrating, and --- perhaps above all --- being persistent and never quitting.Another thing strikes me as curious at the age of 62: I have three brothers, and all four of us have reached the goals we set as children. The goals were very, very different, but it reminds me of the old saying, "Beware of the dreams of your youth, because they just might come true."So there is a lot of valuable stuff in this book. You don't have to make wealth your goal. One of the keys may lie in the question, "What is the meaning of life?" It's a question which needs to be answered, individually, by everyone who does not want to simply drift through life. Once you know your own answer, you may have formulated a Desire (as Hill would say).It should be pointed out, also, that this is NOT a get-rich-quick book. If anything, it is a get-rich-slowly book. And, after all, if you do want to accumulate a few million bucks, don't you think you had better have a definite desire, accompanied by a real-life plan, as well as complete concentration on that plan, and complete tenacity/perseverance? After all, you're going up against competition which may well have all of these! As Napoleon Hill points out, what is truly fanatastic is people who think that this is all going to happen through luck. What's even worse, if it does happen through luck (e.g. winning a lottery): well, how many people hold on to that money and go on to become truly wealthy? Isn't it less than one percent? And how many people win a lottery and subsequently turn up broke again?In sum, I really have only one serious question about the book and its recommended methods, and that is, "Can you fake it?" That is to say, can you take a whim that occurred to you a week ago (say, to become a superb chef) and actually talk yourself into trying to make it happen --- if it is not, in fact, your key goal in life? I don't know, but I strongly suspect that the answer is "No." You'd get tired of chasing your phony goal very quickly indeed, and then you could say that you tried the book's methods, and they failed.So --- before buying this book, do try to figure out what you most want out of life. If it is a great pile of money, you could hardly go wrong here. I think the book could also help in attaining other goals, but the title is not accidental.--- one additional thought ---I have worked as an English teacher for a decade or more, and have been immersed for most of my life in the struggle to learn foreign languages. It is only now that I suspect that the language teacher's focus on repetition is designed to drive the language into the student's "unconscious mind." We understand very little about the human mind, but this struck me as interesting: you speak and hear a foreign language just as you speak and hear your own language --- through some part of your mind which is most certainly not the "conscious mind."Thinking about that, I came to suspect that the idea of auto-suggestion, REPEATED day after day after day, might indeed have some merit.