The present edition, THINK AND GROW RICH by NAPOLEON HILL, adapted for the 21st century reader and annotated by Richard Goddart, has the following objectives:
- To give the reader a concise edition that can be studied and applied for practical purposes of accumulation of wealth, personal achievement, or attainment of any other aim.
- To preserve every single idea of the original book.
- To highlight the main points and best quotes.
- To give a 21st century perspective in the notes, thanks to the discoveries made since the book was written.
- To present Hill's self-coaching tools in a "workbook" format.
The Thirteen Steps to Riches that you learn from this book offer the shortest dependable philosophy of individual achievement. This book is one of the most amazing books ever written, and it has had a greater influence on the lives, accomplishments and fortunes of more individuals than any other work of its kind all over the world.
Think and Grow Rich was originally published in 1937, following The Laws of Success (1929) and partly based on this earlier work. It was claimed to have been inspired by Andrew Carnegie and his formula for money-making. Napoleon Hill's biographers have found out, that Napoleon possessed a highly developed "sixth sense" which allowed him to access the "success minds" and, so to say, download their knowledge that he presented in this book (the chapter on The Sixth Sense of the present edition contains some methods that can help to develop similar intuitive abilities). This quality is also evident from the book Outwitting the Devil, written in 1938 but only published recently. The "lost chapter", or secret/hidden chapter, is from this later book (not from "Think and Grow Rich") and is titled "My Invisible Counselors". In fact, most of this "secret chapter" is a part of "Power of the Master Mind", Chapter 10, from Think and Grow Rich. The "secret" part is found online and contains Hill´s imaginary conversation with an angel that made a deal with him, offering reward for his effort to write "Think and Grow Rich" and make it accessible to public. Nowadays, this account on his conversation with the "angel" feels much more credible that many of the "real-life" stories. He was not only provided reward, but also help with writing and publishing, a co-author and bride, Rosa Lee Beeland.
From the back cover:
The story behind Think and Grow Rich
During a lecture in 1936 Napoleon frankly stated that he was searching for a companion. A girl from the audience, Rosa Lee Beeland, came up to talk with Hill personally after the lecture. They met the following day and after less than two days, the 53-year-old Napoleon and the 29-year old Rosa Lee decided to marry. Hill and Beeland started to work on
Think and Grow Rich
. Rosa worked hard arranging Hill's manuscript, helping his thoughts flow and feeding in her own ideas.
was a product of the "loving and harmonious mastermind" that Napoleon formed with his bride. Many of the fine ideas in the book can be traced to this, although short-lived, but inspired companionship.