Books by Napoleon Hill
Think and Grow Rich is the Napoleon Hill book in our library. It is the origin of a whole shelf, and the summary is honest about which parts hold up: the useful core is about sustained purpose and repeated effort, not about the mechanism the book claims for it.
That split is worth knowing before you start. The chapters on definite purpose, on persistence and on the company you keep are the ones that survived. The parts that promise outcomes from thought alone are the parts later writers kept and the parts most argued with.
How to read it. Read it as the historical root of the other four books on this shelf, and read the summary rather than treating every claim as settled.
It sits in the Personal Finance bundle as the ancestor of the other four. Nearly every book on this shelf is either extending its argument or answering it, which is the main reason to read it.
The book
Think and Grow Rich
Napoleon HillThe origin of the genre, and more useful than its reputation if you take the discipline rather than the metaphysics. The chapters on persistent purpose are the ones that survived, and they survived because they describe a habit rather than a mechanism.
What it argues- Definite purpose: a specific aim beats a general wish for more.
- Persistence is treated as the deciding quality, and as one you build.
- The company you keep shapes what you attempt.
- The book claims more than its evidence supports in places; the summary says where.
- Its real importance is that nearly every later book on this shelf is answering it.
Suited to a reader interested in where the personal finance genre came from, and to anyone willing to separate the useful habit from the wider claims. Not the most reliable book in this bundle, and not the least useful either.
Where to start
Read it knowing the useful core is narrower than the title. Definite purpose and persistence are the parts worth taking, and they describe a habit rather than a mechanism. If you want the same ideas properly evidenced, read The Psychology of Money after this, and if you want them measured, read The Millionaire Next Door, which reaches a less flattering conclusion about how wealth is actually accumulated.
Where this fits
This is the origin of the shelf. The Psychology of Money supplies the behaviour argument in a researched form, The Millionaire Next Door supplies measured evidence, and Rich Dad Poor Dad argues with the framing this book established. Read it first for the history and last for the advice, because almost everything it claims has since been tested by better books.
The rest of this shelf
The Personal Finance shelf holds 5 books in total. These are the others, each condensed into a guide you can finish in about 15 minutes:
- The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
- Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
- The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko
- Money: Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins
Start with the original, plus four
Think and Grow Rich is in the Personal Finance bundle with The Psychology of Money, Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Millionaire Next Door and Money: Master the Game.
Five complete guides, about 15 minutes each.
Explore Personal FinanceSustained purpose, repeated, is the part that survived.