BOOK REVIEW: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

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Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich classic undoubtedly heard of even by those who haven’t read it. I was one of those people not too long ago – but last year decided to finally picked it up. My parents and I actually started a book club to discuss the book, and we met at a cafe inside a local bookstore to discuss a chapter every two weeks. It took a while, but last week, we met to discuss the final chapter.

I really did mean to enjoy this book. Being the founder of the original SUCCESS magazine (which I love, even though I miss Darren Hardy!!), I was absolutely thrilled to have the chance not only to read Think and Grow Rich but also to discuss it with like-minded people.

Certainly, there were a lot of important concepts and advise, and the information is laid out in a very organized manner. Most of the concepts are universal and still apply in present day and age, and it was very interesting to encounter little outdated tidbits such as the recentness of the Great Depression and the stock market crash, the majority of women not working, and other stuff I can’t quite think of and I don’t want to think of right now..

I haven’t really reviewed a nonfiction in any extensive manner, so for want of something to talk about, I’ll just list a couple of concepts I found helpful, interesting, and hopefully memorable:

• THOUGHTS >>>>> DESIRE >>>>> ACTION >>>>> RESULTS Our own thoughts are really the only thing we have complete autonomy over, and when that translates into an idea that then translates into desire through intensity and converted into action, we eventually get results. Seems a pretty simple enough concept, but when you come to think of it, a lot of us take it for granted so we might as well not know of it at all.
• SIXTH SENSE Not in the normal sense of the phrase, mind you. This one I would say is a pretty foreign concept. So it’s this concept of the creative imagination where you “converse” with role models (ex. Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln) in a sort of “meeting” inside your head, purely imagined and not to be confused with interaction with spirits, based on what you know of their characters, habits, achievements, and traits.

Overall, even though the language in the book often sounded a little cult-ish, I did pick up several new ideas as well as helpful reminders. It was definitely a little more bearable when discussed with other people – some of them are heavy concepts, almost hard to grasp, and it’s very interesting and also nice to hear insights of people from different backgrounds.

Thanks for reading my first review of a nonfiction book!

Have you read Think and Grow Rich, and what did you think?