BOOK REVIEW

Think and Grow Rich this line determine 13 principle for success by Nepoleon Hill
the author of The Law of Success Philosophy published by The Ralston Society, Meriden
Conn, in 1938, total pages 260, ISBN 10: 81-88452-34-3. Hill draws on stories of
Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other millionaires of his generation
to prove his principles. The book comprises of preface, fifteen chapters, Bibliography,
References and index. Chapter No.1 is Introduction, Chapter No.2 is Desire, Chapter
No.3 Faith, Chapter No.4 Auto-suggestions, Chapter No.5 Specialized Knowledge,
Chapter No. 6 Imagination, Chapter No.7 Organized Planning, Chapter No. 8 is
Decisions, Chapter No. 9 is Persistence, Chapter No.10 is Power of the Master Mind,
Chapter No. 11 is The Mystery of Sex Transmutation, Chapter No. 12 is The SubConscious Mind, Chapter No. 13 is The Brain, Chapter No. 14 is The 6 th Sense and
Chapter No. 15 is about How to outwit The Six Ghosts of Fear.
The author in the Preface tells about the thoughts of different people and also write
money making secret which has made fortunes for more than five hundred remarkably
wealthy men whom he carefully analyzed over a long period of time.
The book is aimed at the average person and teaches them how to successfully achieve
anything they desire in life. In fact, Napoleon created a special formula for us to achieve
financial success!
The literature is based on the research of over 40 millionaires, what made them impulse,
what made them so successful, what gave them the edge and the advantage over everyone
else. Think And Grow Rich will provide you with all the answers you need to attaining
wealth just like those same people did. The author have divided this book into thirteen
steps. The opening chapter is simply a series of merely where a persons thoughts, in
various ways, resulted in real world effects, and not in the sense of a brilliant new idea,
1

either. Instead, the focus of these stories is that of determination and desire, attributes that
pretty much anyone can have. Step 1 is Desire, After the first chapter, I felt some pretty
serious concern about the remainder of this book, so I read on with some caution, fearing
that the first step in this path to success was merely to want something. Not so. Hill
basically says that one should use deep desire as a goal. Is there a job you want? An
amount of money you want? Define that goal clearly, and then set down a specific plan to
get there. In a nutshell, this isnt really different than many of the financial planning
topics I talk about on The Simple Dollar. Step 2 is Faith, by faith, Hill isnt really
referring to belief in a higher power, but instead faith that the future holds better things
for you a truly confident outlook. If you take to heart the perspective that the future
holds greater things for you or any other greater belief that you hold then your future
has a greater likelihood of holding these things. Why? Theyre consistently on your mind
thus you pay more attention to the factors that will make them happen.
Step 3 is Autosuggestion that is although the title of this chapter screams scam to me, I
was surprised to find that I actually already use most of the ideas within. Basically, the
idea is that if you keep repeating your plan for success to yourself, it has a greater chance
of actually coming true. Why? Again, embedding a thought deeply within yourself and
repetition does the trick increases the chance that the thought will come up at the right
time when you need it. Think of it as cramming for a college exam you study a ton
hoping that the right answer will come up when you need it. Step 4 is Specialized
Knowledge that is Guess what? Getting an education is important, whether its a formal
education at an institute of higher learning or merely an education at the hands of a
mentor. I tend to find that finding a mentor is often really useful for figuring out exactly
how to succeed in a certain area, even if you do have a strong formal education. Step 5 is
Imagination which is another key element or the ability to take a vague idea and
transform it into something concrete. I think that, for many, this is one of the key
stumbling blocks on their path to success. They see the goal, they see where they are at
now, but they lack the imagination to construct the path between here and there. How can
you do it? Break it down. Just focus on figuring out the next step, and then the step after
that and the one after thatStep 6 is Organized Planning in which large mishmash of
various ideas on how you can effectively plan to be successful in other words, put
2

other pieces into place beyond just thinking about it that will lead to success. First and
foremost, one should surround themselves with a team of support people who have both
knowledge of how to go down the path you want to go, but also care about helping you.
Second, write a killer resume that will get you the job you need to start building towards
success Hill even recommends internships, though the language to describe it doesnt
really seem to have existed when this book was written. Third, step up to the plate often
and regularly and get the job done well. Finally, practice the traits of leadership, of which
Hill lists an abundance. This was a very strong chapter, one that did quite a bit to
overcome the slight trepidation that I felt about many of the other chapters. I felt this
chapter was key to the whole book, a reminder that in the end, your dreams do take hard
work (though a good mindset helps a great deal).
Step 7 is Decision, When it comes time to make decisions, make them. Dont defer to
others and dont delay the decision. This is perhaps the biggest part of becoming a leader
and a person that people will depend on and follow. Its fine to gather information, but
when the time comes, be decisive: come up with a firm decision and stick with it.
Step 8 is Persistence means that you know youre following the right path for you and
that you wont allow a few mis-steps or stumbles along the way keep you from achieving
your goal. Many people give up the first time theyre dealt a blow, but sit down sometime
and read a biography of a great leader and see how many times they were knocked down
and how viciously it happens. I recently read a great biography of Winston Churchill
and I was actually stunned how true this was in his life he had a lot of missteps and at
least one complete collapse (where he basically had to start again from square one)
during his political career, but he was persistent about it and eventually wound up as
Prime Minister. Dont let some bumps in the road keep you from following the path, even
if they seem like huge stumbling blocks that you are going to have incredible difficulty
surpassing. Step 9 is Power of the Master Mind, The title of this chapter set off warning
bells, but it actually just refers to being able to pick the minds of others for ideas, and
often sharing them in fair exchange. You remember the suggestion for surrounding
yourself with people who can support you? This group should include as many smart
people that you know, especially ones that you trust well enough to bounce ideas off of.
Basically, find the smartest people in your life that you trust, and utilize them to help you
3

think through your plans. Step 10 is The Mystery of Sex Transmutation so, This chapter
was perhaps the vaguest in the book; it advises tapping into your sex drive in order to
drive yourself to further success. The book offers several tips on how to do this, but I
generally feel like many of those would lead to frustration for many people rather than
success. For me, the love and support of a caring partner is really the best spur to success
that you can really have, regardless of the details of ones sex life. Step 11 is The
Subconscious Mind, Whenever you think a negative thought about your dreams,
immediately and forcefully remind yourself that not only is such a thought a waste of
time, it actually just pulls the dream out of your grasp. Instead, make an effort to think in
positive ways about your plan, slowly training your mind to not pull up negative thoughts
about achieving what you want to achieve. Step 12 is The Brain, Although the
terminology is as fuzzy as can be here, the basic idea is that most people send a lot of
nonverbal cues about what theyre thinking, and putting extra effort into trying to pick up
on those cues can pay enormous dividends. I will say that quite often I have a terrible
time with nonverbal a cue that others give me perhaps thats why I enjoy blogging so
much, because I dont really have to worry too much about nonverbal cues. Step 13 is the
Sixth Sense, Again, buried under a lot of New Age-esque terminology is a really simple
idea: meditate. Simply sit back, close your eyes, and let thoughts slip away. Once your
mind is empty, the chapter gives a number of things to think about, but I often find that
some of my best ideas come from the moments when I really do let all of my thoughts
completely slip away from me the good ideas just appear. At the end author defined The
Six Ghosts of Fear, the six primary fears that fill peoples lives and keep them from being
successful are poverty, criticism, ill health, lost love, old age, and death. However, if you
let those constantly guide your life, youre bound to not reach your dreams. I largely
agree with this, especially if a person is single and does not have people relying on them
for support if I were single, Id be much more willing to go through a period without
health insurance to build my dreams.
Think and Grow Rich doesnt ever imply that merely thinking about something makes it
happen Hill repeatedly states that its a matter of confidence and keeping your eye on
the prize, not a matter of just dreaming about it.

So, after reading this book, I agree with the theme behind Think and Grow Rich the
idea that self-confidence and keeping your eyes on the goal are big parts of success but
theyre only a few pieces of a much larger puzzle.