Today I’m going to review the most famous book written on the concept of building wealth and the behavioral commonalities among wealthy people.
This book was written by Napoleon Hill and released in the year 1937 at which time only 5000 copies were released. At that time you could get a copy for about $1.50.
Millions of copies have been sold which means it’s been read by millions and in fact it has been translated in many different languages.
In this book Napoleon hill set out to find the commonalities between the wealthy business owners across the United States.
He was said to have interviewed over 500 business men and women and in this book he comprised the commonalities between all of them.
The book lays out 13 steps to build wealth; to be used as a guidepost. Encouraging the aspiring entrepreneur to possess these 13 qualities.
The book has influenced many to this day and most self-made millionaires all confirm that the immense benefit they’ve achieved from reading this book.
They almost unanimously recommend the aspiring entrepreneur to read this book. This is due to the many behavioral commonalities later down in the book.
Through meticulous studying of the book I sought to understand why this book is so highly recommended.
After careful study of the book and researching the life of Napoleon Hill I found out that he died poor, with no money. Amazing!
The person who wrote the book on prosperity and the principles of building wealth actually wound up broke at the end of his life.
In figuring this out, I concluded there must be a flaw either in the principles in the book or in Hill’s application of the principles.
Towards the end of Hill’s life he was brought under his wing by a man who was younger than him by the name of Clement Stone.
Stone attributed his success to the reading of Hill’s book but there was a reason why Stone wound up wealthy and Napolian Hill ended up broke.
This proves that obviously the flaw was in Hills application of the principles for the simple fact that Stone attributed much of his ability to build wealth to the reading of Hill’s book.
So the main flaw in this book is not only in the lack of steps within the book to apply these principles.
You even find in the title itself quote think and grow rich “which silently implies the word just. Which would mean if you just think and grow rich you could become wealthy.
The word just. Which would mean if you just think and grow rich you could become wealthy. But this is ridiculous and obvious But not obvious to Napoleon Hill for the simple fact that he wound up bro at the end of his life.
Which leads to another topic and that is the topic of the call metaphysics call part of building wealth that may in fact have some basis but when taken to the extreme and will likely be fruitless.
Principles aren’t beneficial unless they are implemented.
And they must be implemented in an environment in which they are likely to be successful.
In future articles I will cover the topic on proper application of these principles in the correct environment.
Because some people may know these principles and apply them but it may not be the correct environment in which these principles would thrive.
PS. Please feel free to post comments questions or suggestions because they are greatly appreciated thank you for reading.