Napoleon Hill (1883–1970)

Delulu: the book. Reading it was much like having a nosebleed. Occasionally, the author is correct about something, but in a way that a broken clock is right twice a day. It's extremely repetitive and has a lot of needless tangents and anecdotes (are they even true? I don't care enough to check but I'm sceptical). I suffered through this book cause I wanted to know what's so great about it, since so many different people recommend it. The only thing I got out of reading it, is a better show more understanding of how con men do their gig. Gladly, I don't interact quite enough with con men to have observed many, so this was an insight I didn't have before. Was it worth it? Noooope. show less

Inspired by Andrew Carnegie, the entrepreneur billionaire later turned philanthropist, Napoleon Hill spent more than twenty years of his life around people who, starting from rags or close to rags (poor, little or no education, no influence) nevertheless became highly successful. Businessmen and finance gurus, inventors, artists, writers, politicians... No matter what was their field of expertise (he particularly focuses on Henry Ford and Thomas Edison) what Napoleon Hill demonstrates in show more here is that there is no such thing as a miracle recipe or magical formula to achieving. In fact, it all come down to a mindset, a certain combination of personality traits that shape a very peculiar outlook upon life and the challenges it offers. To succeed, in short, is nothing less than about character, and character can be forged.

Well... He is right and he is wrong.

Yes, character definitely matters to succeed. Achievement in life has no time to spare for whines unwilling or unable to challenge themselves, as a Carole Dweck, for example, demonstrated quite clearly when opposing so-called growth mindset and fixed mindset (Mindset: The New Psychology of Success). Is that enough, though, to be as successful as a Thomas Edison? Thinking so is seriously very simplistic and naïve, since such successful individuals never appear in a socio-cultural vacuum (check, for instance, what a Malcolm Gladwell would have to say about it! Outliers: The Story of Success). Now, does that mean it's all rubbish?

Well, to be honest, here's more a book to read for its historical value than anything else. Here's indeed THE book that started it all when it comes to self-help mantra. As such, it undeniably contains a few pearls of wisdom when it comes to determination, motivation, and strength of character in front of adversity. It can be truly motivational. Thing is, the self-help market has now widely turned into common sense philosophy and pub spirituality, and, ironically enough, this book being so avant-garde for its time is not exempt of such weaknesses either! The writing is bad. It also is so pop it manages to strike a chord right in between pseudo-science and psychic doolali. For instance, Napoleon Hill used to believe our environment to be made out of an ether; an ether that can be affected by positive or negative vibrations emanating from our thoughts... (I wanted to laugh, but then I remembered I am living in a time gripped by postmodernism 'philosophies', and, truly, there really is nothing to laugh about...).

So... In a word, it surely is all pretty naïve. Yet, give him that, the core point remains: there's no such thing as fatalism when it comes to achieving. If you want you can, so get a grip and get on. As for the rest, yes it has an historical value; but I still cannot fathom why this book has such a cult status... show less

I listened to this book for the first time following a conversation with my leadership coach about the various motivational and leadership tapes and books we'd consumed in our early career days. This was one I never got to; it seemed so focused on wealth. And it is, but it's as applicable to other goals too. What most surprised me was how many concepts we consider relatively modern and even "new age" were cited by the great industrialists as secrets everyone should know. This book has some show more extremely dated perspectives that should offend any modern reader. I suspect that's why there appear to have been some re-writes. Setting those aside, the principles and laws within are valuable. show less

Timeless advice...even where he went wrong, he was still pretty much right on

Think & Grow Rich was Napoleon Hill's attempt to put his entire "philosophy of success" into a single volume, and he succeeded spectacularly, as is attested by the work's enduring popularity to this day.

Some of his ideas are now outdated, for instance his belief in psychic phenomena, which he picked up from many of his business leader friends like Henry Ford for whose generation this was not an uncommon view. But show more given that Harry Houdini had largely debunked such ideas (much to Arthur Conan Doyle's chagrin) by then, perhaps Hill should have known better.

At any rate, most of Hill's ideas have stood the test of time, and indeed have formed the basis for most self-help and success coaches since. For instance, Hill begins with the idea that you need a "definite chief aim" in life, akin to what Ayn Rand would later call a central purpose, and this thread is recognizable on down through Tim Ferriss's "dreamlining" exercises in The 4-Hour Work Week. Hill's own definite chief aim, for example, was to define and promote his "philosophy of success," and all his productive activities, his career, and his life were organized around this purpose, which did ultimately lead him to success.

Building on this foundation, Hill sets down a sequence of principles and steps necessary to turn your definite chief aim into reality, from developing a positive mental attitude to acquiring specialized knowledge. Even some of his more scientifically dubious ideas can be interpreted in a way that makes a lot of sense. For instance, he thinks that a lot of creative thinking involves tapping into some sort of "collective subconscious", but most of the examples he gives are explained perfectly well by the fact that the person has already stocked their own subconscious with lots of specialized knowledge. And the phenomena he discusses in what he calls a "mastermind group" need not involve literal mind-reading, but may be instances of "group flow" (see Steven Kotler's The Rise of Superman).

My personal favorite part of the book, though, is when Hill works up the courage to admit to an unusual practice of his, which he had actually mentioned in previous works (such as The Law of Success) but had attributed to "a friend". For many years, every night in bed Hill would hold an imaginary round-table council in his mind, a sort of mastermind group of advisers composed of his personal heroes, including historical figures ranging from Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln to Charles Darwin. I found this idea absolutely charming, and have been working to implement it myself as I believe it could have even greater benefits than those Hill claimed for it. But then, that's as it relates to my own definite chief aim, so I won't claim that this would work or be particularly helpful or effective for everyone.

If you want to get Think & Grow Rich on audio, this "21st-Century Edition" (narrated by Michael McConnohie) is quite good, and far, far better than the other recent (though unrevised) audio edition narrated by Anthony Rogers, which I recommend avoiding like the plague. Rogers's British accent combined with his odd intonations and frequent mispronunciations makes it like listening to Think & Grow Rich as narrated by Nigel Tufnel, which isn't nearly as entertaining as it might sound!

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2C860D6KZJ7EW show less