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Think and Grow Rich! (Mass Market Paperback) (平装)
by Napoleon Hill
| Category:
Personal success, Personal wealth, Inspiration, Self help |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
With 60 million copies sold in the past 70 years, Think and Grow Rich! is simply the best personal success book ever written. |
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AllReviews |
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W. Clement Stone (Chairman, Combined International Corporation President) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
...During our ten-year association, I learned the missing number to my combination for worldwide successful achievement. The Master Mind Principle: two or more persons working together in complete harmony toward a mutual goal or goals...Napoleon Hill's philosophy teaches you what you were never taught. Specifically: How to Recognize, Relate, Assimilate and Apply principles whereby you can achieve any goal whatsoever that doesn't violate Universal Law - the Law of God and the rights of your fellowman... |
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Og Mandino (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
During the past twenty-five years I have been blessed with more good fortune than any individual deserves but I shudder to think where I'd be today, or what I'd be doing if I had not been exposed to Napoleon Hill's philosophy. It changed my life. |
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Senator Jennings Randolph (West Virginia) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
I knew Napoleon Hill in 1922 when I was a student in Salem College in the town of my birth. Mr. Hill came to our campus as the commencement speaker in that year. As I listened to him, I heard something other than just the words he spoke, I felt the substance - the wisdom - and the spirit of a man and his philosophy. Mr. Hill said "the most powerful instrument we have in our hand is the power of our mind." Napoleon Hill compiled this philosophy of American achievement for the benefit of all people. I strongly commend this philosophy to you for achievement and service in your chosen field. |
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Beth (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
A big believer in the power of self-discovery and self-evaluation, I was intrigued by Napoleon Hill's ideas when I first read about this book many moons ago. Once I actually started to read the book, it didn't take long to discover some important truths about myself (and the "secret" that he refers to in the introduction) that I had been trying to come to grips with for many years, but couldn't quite identify. Perhaps it would even be appropriate to call Mr. Hill's principles "Magical". By the end of the first chapter, I felt that familiar, wonderful inner motivating buzz that I was on the verge of something phenomenal for my life. Time will tell how well I process and put into action the principles, but I am excited about the new discoveries and perspectives I have acquired, and the opportunity to work them in my life - and I'm not finished reading yet! I am savoring every chapter and idea, re-reading them over and over to fully digest before moving on to the next phase. This truly is a book everyone should read. You don't have to want to be a millionaire for it to benefit you. These principles will help you in every area of life. Dare to dream, and never give up! |
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Gregory McMahan (MSL quote), Japan
<2006-12-29 00:00>
Why do I say that this book is the Elvis of self-help offal? Because, quite literally, since its first printing some seventy or so years ago, it has spawned many objectionable pretenders to the throne. Some are unabashed plagiaries of this book's contents, while others have profited handsomely by distilling one or more of its useful concepts. You probably own more than a few of these books, and they probably reside in a box, tucked in the corner of your attic, closet or garage, where they quietly molder and gather dust. There have been, currently are, and most certainly will be many books like it, albeit disguised with catchy titles and stuffed with the latest and most trendy psycho-babble of the moment, but none will ever be truly the same as this book. Those who excel in their chosen professions not only know the secret it purports to 'show' the reader, but truly live it with every fiber of their being. This even I recognize now after gleaning the secrets of this book.
As for the contents of the book, it purports to have the secret formula for personal achievement, as divulged to Napoleon Hill by no less than Andrew Carnegie. In the grand tradition of all the great writers, Dr. Hill did not tell the reader the secret; rather, he showed it to the reader repeatedly by way of example. In fact, he divulged it in his foreword (and come to think of it, in the testimonials preceding the contents of the book). The book is the original source for such hackneyed sayings as, 'Never take NO for an answer', 'If you believe it, you can achieve it', 'Attitude determines altitude', and my personal favorite, 'A quitter never wins and a winner never quits'.
Every book rests on certain key assumptions, and every writer has his or her own biases, and these, in the context of Dr. Hill's subject matter, are fairly obvious. Yet, given that everyone has his or her own shortcomings, the contents of the book can be summed up in one sentence: the key to success, whether you define it materially or spiritually, is internal and not external. The entire book elaborates at length on this central point. Indeed, when you stare at the cover of the book, about one-half of the secret that it purports to teach stares you in the face. For the other half, which talks at length about the application of this secret, you will have to pick up a copy of the book and read for yourself.
While I did not agree with everything Dr. Hill professed, I did like the book overall. Even though I have no interest in riches (though I would not protest too much if they flowed my way as a result of my efforts), I nonetheless found the book quite useful. Indeed, I will include it as a permanent member of my professional armamentarium, in spite of some its more glaring flaws. I highly recommend it to those sincerely desiring to change for the better, and grow as an individual. In sum, this book, combined with The Thinker's Way by John Chaffee, will do much to aid anyone in gaining the most from efforts devoted toward self-improvement and personal development. |
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Justin Belkin (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
Think & Grow Rich has withstood the test of time and is undoubtedly a perennial classic. After nearly fifty years it remains one of the most highly recommended "how-to" books on becoming rich. The book received the stamp of approval from American industrialist Andrew Carnegie who originally recommended that Napoleon Hill undertake the project in order to share with the world the secret to wealth. However, Hill realized that even if he explicitly divulged the secret the sad truth was that 98 out of 100 people would still never succeed financially because they lacked definite purpose.
There are no two ways about it. In order to become rich a person must possess an inviolable reason for wanting to succeed. It is imperative to develop a "money consciousness." Hill writes, "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 wealth" (204). If you are part of the 2% who already possesses a strong sense of purpose, then you will easily pick up the secret of wealth interspersed throughout the book's encrypted pages. However, if you need some help, then look no further than reading the title.
There is a reason why the book is NOT entitled Work Harder and Longer & Grow Rich. Once you comprehend that you are capable of achieving anything when you put your "mind" to it, you will understand what Hill meant when he wrote, "Man can create nothing which he does not first conceive in thought" (199). This central tenet (i.e. the "secret") serves as the basis for which Hill's thirteen principles are based. These principles include desire, faith, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized planning, decision, persistence, Master Mind alliances, sex transmutation, the subconscious mind, the brain, and the sixth sense. These principles are nothing more than methods for focusing the mind on those activities that will best contribute to your likelihood for success.
Of course, Hill understood that the message is nothing if not passionately understood and applied. So with this purpose in mind, Hill presents us with a brief poem that helps to put things into perspective, and more importantly to help us develop a money consciousness by appealing to us emotionally:
"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 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." (42)
The poem is worth reading more than once. I understand it to mean that anything is possible if you name it and are willing to work intelligently toward it despite what you might perceive as barriers to achieving that goal (e.g. economic background, lack of money, unsupportive family, too old, etc.). In other words, YOU choose your life, not your circumstances and not anyone else, but it doesn't come free. If you are sufficiently motivated, then the next step is to follow Hill's Six Ways to Turn Desires into Gold on page 36, but you'll have to read the book to find out what they are. |
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Dick Herbert (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
I was introduced to Think and Grow Rich! by an alcoholic member of our cemetery sales team. I had a wife and three children at the time, and we were just barely making it. My only source of income was the commissions I made knocking on doors selling cemetery property, and they were hard to come by, especially since almost nobody was a permanent resident in the Miami area.
Reading Think and Grow Rich! gave me a crutch to lean on as I forced myself out to pound those doors where the potential prospects were. If my family was going to eat, I had to convince people to buy cemetery property 30 or 40 or more years before they would need it. The Six-Step Success Formula the book contains helped me to realize that there was a way even for an uneducated lunkhead like me to make it like the big guys. I followed the success formula faithfully, and, lo and behold, my whole life turned around.
Two of my most useful tools in the book are the poem "My Wage" ("I bargained with Life for a penny...") and "If You Think You Are Beaten" ("Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man..."). I truly believe that Dr. Hill has the same message the Bible has for us. It was just little easier for me to apply. I went on to build the largest cemetery organization in the country starting out from my basement on Concord Avenue in Anderson, S. C. In 1970, we sold 30 cemeteries to Service Corporation International, making it possible for them to become the largest funeral-cemetery company in the world. I served as President of their Cemetery Division for three years.
I'm now 82 years old, living comfortably on the shores of Lake Hartwell with my wife of 62 years. Almost all my good fortune came about because I had the good fortune to be introduced to Think and Grow Rich! in 1953. (This new addition is actually closer to the one I read back then. The versions sold since the 1960s omit a lot of material that Ross Cornwell has put back in.) I have given away many cases of this great book. It was required reading in my company and in my family, and it has made a difference in a lot of the people's lives who were given the opportunity to make it part of their lives.
Thank you, Ross Cornwell, for this wonderful "added value" new edition of the book that has meant everything to me - and for giving me this opportunity to look back and appreciate how really important all of this is and what a difference it has made in my life and the lives of so many others. |
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Rolf Dobelli (MSL quote), Switzerland
<2006-12-29 00:00>
Napoleon Hill, author of this 1920s classic, will remind you of an older, wiser, slightly wacky uncle who advises you about careers, life and love. This book is a wonderful collection of tips - many based on the ideas of Hill's mentor Andrew Carnegie - that range from the practical (how to prepare a resume) to surprisingly New Age-like mystical talk about the infinite powers of the universe. Of course, like an old uncle, Hill can get long-winded and repetitive at times, but since he packs so much wisdom into his slender book, you will want to reread it over and over again, repetitions and all. We recommend his classic compendium to everyone who is dangling from the career ladder and wondering how to prosper. |
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Danny (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-29 00:00>
I was at first put off by the book I saw as unscientific and crass. But too many people I admired swore by it so I could not resist a peek...
Than BANG! I was indeed blind, but now I do see! The principles and techniques described DO WORK, period. I could do you no greater favor than to somehow talk you into buying this book and applying its recipes to achieve whatever worthy goals you have (or to find out your goals in the first place).
Yes, the language used in the book is one of its time, and yes again, some of the explanations are certainly more scientifically sound than the rest. But that is clearly irrelevant! Hill himself urges the reader to "grab whatever tools are available immediately for the task at hand and get better ones later along the way".
If mere archaic language and florid style are enough to deter you, there is no helping you. And if you are put off by the less than scientific flavor of parts of the text, please bear this in mind:
-Napoleon Hill unfortunately had no formal scientific training, but we should not hold it against him since that did not prevent him from making valuable contributions to understanding of practical methods for realizing a full human potential.
-In his time science proper did not really begin to pay attention the subject matters with which he dealt, so he did not lose that much, after all.
-When later on the subject matter did receive the proper scientific attention, it turned out that Hill was right on most accounts.
You can check that out, for example, in these two outstanding books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a preeminent academic psychologist: Flow (as scientifically sound and respectable as psychology books get but written for intelligent lay audience) and Optimal Experience (more technical and demanding).
For those that think there is nothing concrete in Think & Grow Rich I can attest that there is and point out a parallel: Most people do not believe Warren Buffett when he says in interviews that his investment strategy is perfectly described in Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham. Obviously, there is nothing concrete in that book, too ;) But, not everyone can be helped...
Back to the book. The short final chapters alone are worth many times the sticker price. They are:
- Self-analysis Test Questions (at last a full day is required to answer all of them properly, back than it took me a full week)
- The One Thing Over Which You Have Absolute Control
- 55 Famous Alibis by Old Man IF
Also, this is the book that introduced the word "mastermind" into the popular culture, but mastermind for Hill means so much more, and so it could for you...
Do browse through the book, at least check the chapter titles using the "Search inside this book" function, just to get the sense what is it all about. Than go and buy it, apply what it teaches and never look back! It is that good. |
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Cogito (MSL quote), Canada
<2006-12-29 00:00>
"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."
-Napoleon Hill
If you asked me to recommend to you the single best book I have ever read, my answer would be a very definite Think and Grow Rich. First published in 1937, this is the end product of two decades of research conducted by Napoleon Hill. His research started when Andrew Carnegie (the steel tycoon who was then the richest man on earth) gave him the assignment of organizing a Philosophy of Personal Achievement. Hill, who was a poor journalist, armed with just an introductory letter from Carnegie, set out to interview over five hundred successful people including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller, George Eastman, William Wrigley Jr. and Charles M. Schwab. Hill then revealed the priceless wisdom of his research in the form of the thirteen steps to success (in Think and Grow Rich) and the seventeen principles of success (in courses and lectures he conducted).
The concepts taught by Napoleon Hill transformed my life. Some of these include developing a definite purpose, building a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA), channeling the power of the sub-conscious mind and dealing with adversity. Everything he wrote about or talked about is thought provoking. He was wise, humble and funny. His philosophy is universal; he did not mix it with religion. The riches he referred to were more than money, for the Philosophy of Personal Achievement can be applied to anything in life.
Hill was well ahead of his time. This book has a chapter dedicated to some of today's most important issues - Specialized Knowledge, Decision Making, Imagination and Organized Planning (in which he deals with Leadership). He also has principles for Teamwork, Creative Vision, Health, etc.
This is a classic, and hence the examples are old (not to be confused with outdated). But they are as relevant today as they were in the early twentieth century. Here is an example from T&GR in the chapter on Desire:
On the morning after the Great Fire of Chicago (1871), a group of merchants on Chicago's State Street went into a conference to decide whether to rebuild their stores or leave Chicago. All but one decided to leave. The merchant who decided to stay pointed a finger to the remains of his store and said "Gentlemen, on that very spot I will build the world's greatest store, no matter how many times it may burn down." His name was Marshall Field and his store still exists, and in Hill's words is "a towering monument to that state of mind known as a burning desire." I lived in Chicago from 2002 through 2004 and worked three blocks away from this impressive store on State Street. Sometimes I would visit it or stand outside it to derive inspiration and be reminded of the power of desire. It is amazing that Hill describes "burning desire" with a story based on the Chicago Fire.
There are thousands of self-help books out in the market and hundreds of self proclaimed "gurus" who have made a living by copying the wisdom in Hill's books. As I went through some of those books I realized that there was not much in them that Hill had not already written about. I recommend quality over quantity. Instead of reading through many books, I recommend that you study the following works of Hill and internalize his wisdom:
1. Think and Grow Rich (1937)
2. Napoleon Hill's Keys to Success : The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement
3. Your Right To Be Rich [Unabridged] -
By internalizing, I mean studying in depth - analyzing the ideas, making notes and summaries.
Some have criticized Hill's work by stating that his research was unscientific. They pass him up for Jim Collins (whose "Good to Great" dedicates 76 out of its 300 pages to research methodology and notes that hardly anybody ever reads) or Marcus Buckingham (whose "First Break..." similarly uses 25 pages for Gallup's Meta Analysis and what not). These people don't know what they are missing.
I am greatly indebted to Napoleon Hill. The purpose of my writing this is to spread awareness of his work so that more people can benefit from it. This, I believe is the best way in which Hill would have liked to have been repaid.
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