By Napoleon Hill
Tarcher, 367 pages
“It is a well-known fact that when a man who is highly sexed organizes this irresistible creative force and places it back of his occupational endeavors, he has but little difficulty in persuading people to cooperate with him.”
It’s been five years since The Secret by Rhonda Byrne burst on the literary scene. Readers seeking to achieve prosperity and happiness gobbled up the book, making it a bestseller. Yet over 60 years ago Napoleon Hill preached the same message in Think Your Way to Wealth. Now Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin has released a new edition of Hill’s detailed interviews with Andrew Carnegie, the industrial power broker of the Gilded Age.
Hill set up his book to encompass what he referred to as 17 Principles of Success. Each chapter is a conversation between Hill and Carnegie, conducted along the lines of a journalistic interview. Readers will recognize staples of the think-your-way-to-success movement in chapters such as Attractive Personality and Cosmic Habit-Force. Yet they may be surprised to see how often Carnegie mentioned the importance of “sex energy” as a “driving force” behind the successful endeavors of many wealthy and famous men.
Some readers will find the antiquated language a deterrent as well as the blatant sexism that existed at the time Hill interviewed Carnegie. That is a shame because when studied carefully Think Your Way to Wealth contains invaluable advice on how to succeed in life and in business.
Ellison G. Weist