Think and Grow Rich • Book Review

The more I look, the more I find books that I have heard of before and never knew were at home all along. Since it was just lying around in my parent's library, I picked it up, curious to learn what's special about this book for myself. But after finishing a much smaller book that's on creativity, the transition wasn't exactly smooth.

This 240-page book didn't seem like much to me. I thought I would be done with it in a few days, or a week, tops, but it's not the kind of book you'd want to rush, as I have found. Well, the lengthy and sometimes complex sentences tend to drop the pace a bit. It's not that it's a difficult book to read; I just found myself needing to take my time to process each page as I came across new words and understand the phrasing of some sentences.

Think and Grow Rich generally discusses on developing a state of mind that is success-conscious and therefore able to attract success. It could be in pretty much anything, and it's main focus is about growing riches by first preparing the mind to do so. And it teaches on the power of thought and that we all have the power to control ours—even for the things we need to align them for.

_{"You are the master of your fate, the captain of your soul." - quote by W.C. Henley}

Going through this book, I was reminded of a few successes I have experienced, and this book enlightened me how they managed to happen in the first place and how I could do better now in a few areas of my life.

How I went from zero to hero at some point in my academics years ago started from something. Desire—that was "the starting point of it all." I began to desire better grades and success, and that fueled my passion to study harder and relentlessly to achieve that. The same is for anything—desire—even for growing riches, as this book elaborates on many times. Without desire, well, there's not much that can happen

_{"Success requires no apologies; failure permits no alibis."}

There are thirteen steps to riches in this book—with desire being the first—and each of them provides specific aspects to work on to build this state of mind that attracts success and grows riches.

In the chapter, Organised Planning: The Crystallization of Desire into Action, I learned something I had never thought of in trying to get the job that I desire. That chapter laid out insights on how to write better job application CVs. An information it advises to include is to offer to work on probation if one is determined to obtain a specific position. "Offering a sufficient length of time to enable your prospective employer to judge your value without pay" could increase your chances of being considered.

Again, this isn't the type of book you would want to rush in and out of. I found going through the book at an optimal pace, even though it took me really long, helped me absorb and internalize many of its teachings. It may seem abstract most of the time, but I take it that it was the author's style of getting straight to the point. Although there are stories and anecdotes to illustrate its teachings, the book may have been a lot more voluminous if it hadn't gone straight to the point.

_{"Sex is the most powerful emotion, BUT it must be controlled through transmutation and converted into other channels, or one risks failures."}

I highly recommend Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, as it not only teaches how to think better for riches but also more refined approaches to life and success.