Talk:Think and Grow Rich

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Contents

[edit] Public Domain

The link specified leads to a site where books are commercially for sale. (Please also see previous notes about this, below.) In addition, the text contained in the link contains numerous factual and other errors and also contains copyrighted material that has not only been lifted from another source, but is not credited in any way. Johnlocke2 (talk) 17:06, 31 December 2007 (UTC)John Locke

1937 version is now in public domain. Therefore it is freely available. I believe this informaiton is worth putting in the page. Please provide reasons why not to put it. (Travis88000 11-22-06)

I can't figure out how to add my name here, but I have been using this wiki for months to locate a copy of this book for both myself and people I have mentioned the book to. It is completely within the Public Domain. Call the Napoleon Hill Foundation or just check the copy right laws.

Please put the link back.

Dale Carnegie not Andrew....

The link referred to features a photograph of the cover of a version of "Think and Grow Rich" that is copyrighted and is NOT in the public domain. The link clearly implies that this book is the one which can be downloaded, when it is not. This is extremely misleading. There would be no objection to a photo of the actual cover of a 1937 edition of the book. There would also be no objection to a link to a site that does not offer or refer, directly or indirectly, to any commercial products or services. If a site does so, this would constitute using TGAR for the commercial purpose of attracting buyers of other goods or services. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnlocke2 (talkcontribs) 20:00, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

This link is to "zilliontech.com," a commercial enterprise. All of the links on the page to which this link takes one (including "Knowledge Repository") involve for-sale commercial products and services. Unintentionallly or not, zilliontech.com's placing this link on this Wikipedia web page has the effect of luring readers to other websites whose sole purpose is clearly to sell related products and services. There are numerous web sites where TAGR can be downloaded free of charge and which involve no commercial links. Any reader can easily find these with a Google or other search. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnlocke2 (talkcontribs) 12:47, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

What I don't understand is why the book is not on Wikisource, when "the Science of Getting Rich" is. Clearly several people have stated that it is in the public domain. In fact I received a free copy via e-mail which also states that the book is in the public domain. Dessydes (talk) 00:28, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Possibly POV?

I think this page needs to be looked over. I mean even the first line is a little too "Strong"?

[edit] Response

I believe the facts support the statement. The book has never been out of print since the first day it was published, in 1937. According to publishers' statements, it has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide in its many manifestations. On the front cover of the new "restored, revised" edition this article mentions, best-selling author Brian Tracy says, "This is the best single book on personal success ever written; it made me a millionaire -- starting from nothing," and author Harvey Mackay ("Swim with the Sharks") says, "It's the classic of all classics." On the back cover, Donald Keough, former president and CEO of Coca-Cola, says, "The cogent advice articulated by Napoleon Hill is as relevant and pertinent today as the day it was written. Hill has attained almost "guru status" in Japan and Malaysia. His devotees in the United States and the United Kingdom number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Johnlocke2 20:32, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

No way. A few random people is not "Many". If this isn't fixed to everyone's satisfaction, it should be marked as a pov dispute.

This book is absolutely gigantic in the sales field. Many, many, many people in leadership positions in companies large and small will attest to the influence of this book on their careers. I find the current description to be appropriate and accurate.

[edit] What is the "secret" in the book?

I think he refers to it as the "magic mind" or "master mind" - the thing he does not state directly

Correct. The "secret" is never actually described or presented in the book. I left the book with a feeling of enormous disappointment; I'd been told that this was a great book that would help me improve many areas of my life, but all I found was frustration. Anyone can write a book about the great secret s/he has; without actually saying what the "secret" is, it's meaningless.
Septegram 18:30, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
Did you follow the instructions?--Iplars 18:07, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
He says "you'll figure it out if you're ready for it." I wonder what we do if we aren't ready for it? And how can an idea be impossible to describe directly? --Shay Guy 06:27, 10 November 2006 (UTC)
I think that "the secret" should be stated directly in the article. After reading the book several times, I've never been sure what "the secret" is. Assuming that his idea; "you'll figure it out if you're ready for it" is magical-mystical nonsense, then the article is not objective. Instead it's playing along with the book's little game. The "magic mind" or "master mind" (or whatever the consensus is) should be directly identified as "the secret". If there seems to be no clear consensus, then that's an even more significant fact that should be clearly stated with-in the article. It's difficult to find objective information about this book or about N. Hill. OscarVogel 21:39, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
To answer the question directly, the "Secret" in the book is how millionaires (now billionaires) make money. So obviously paying $8 or $15 for a book won't give you that. What the book says, and it causes much confusion, is that life itself teaches the lessons for how to make money. To be more specific: We teach and learn from each other how to make money. It is not something taught "in school", that is too one-way; it is taught and learned through interaction, through life's lessons and each generation is different. People who can't make money are failing at life itself, which is pretty obvious, and always need someone (parents, government, spouse, the army) to save them from themselves. Yes, it is harsh, but that is what you pay $8 or $15 for when you purchase Think and Grow Rich. Learning life's lessons requires failure, because real learning involves making mistakes. Now, we aren't talking about in 2007 making $150,000 per year, that is not "riches" and anyone making that kind of money probably hasn't failed very much. Or even $1.6 Billion, sure it is a lot of money but the US Government's budget is $3.2 TRILLION, so $1.6 Billion is far, far less than the government takes in, and they don't have to do anything for that money but pass a tax bill. We are talking about making so many mistakes that you can become a Trillionaire if you want, if you are willing to fail enough and learn life's lessons. The subject of the book, Andrew Carnegie, was 100 times richer than anyone alive today as a percentage of the US Economy. There is no one alive today who comes close to the power and wealth in Carnegie's day that he had, he was feared as an "Emperor in Washington" one day if he kept going. And he had no army, no constitution, no taxing powers! So obviously he knew more about life than anyone alive, or since. I'm sorry that you can't get what he knew for $8, because he learned it from life itself. He did build thousands of libraries, though, in the hopes people would pick up a book and read. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.49.211.127 (talk) 03:41, 24 February 2007 (UTC).

The Secret is what the book The Secret details. It is as simple as this, whatever you focus on you bring into existence ... it can be wealth or it can be poverty. This book brought me from a negative net worth without a job and on the verge of eviction to a positive net worth and home of my own within a very short period of time. I thought it was a fluke, but it's not. You have to really focus on what you want, really want what you want, be willing to pursue it (in an educated way) and you basically get it. That's the Secret.68.198.176.70 03:05, 4 April 2007 (UTC)JC


[edit] Link to Ebook Download

The link to the ebook download page should not be removed. It will benefit all those who are looking for a soft copy to read.

[edit] 1937 edition protected until 2035

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, it appears a 1937 work would have 95 years of copyright protection and thus not be in the public domain until after 2035:

"• Works originally copyrighted before 1950 and renewed before 1978:3 These works have automatically been given a longer copyright term. Copyrights that had already been renewed and were in their second term at any time between December 31, 1976, and December 31, 1977, inclusive, do not need to be renewed again. They have been automatically extended to last for a total term of 95 years (a first term of 28 years plus a renewal term of 67 years) from the end of the year in which they were originally secured. NOTE: This extension applies not only to copyrights less than 56 years old but also to older copyrights that had previously been extended in duration under a series of Congressional enactments beginning in 1962. As in the case of all other copyrights subsisting in their second term between December 31, 1976, and December 31, 1977, inclusive, these copyrights will expire at the end of the calendar year in which the 95th anniversary of the original date of copyright occurs." --http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.html#works —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.51.165.208 (talk) 06:01, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Think and Grow Rich Applies to All Walks in Life

Boxing Hall of Famer Ken Norton discussed in his autobiography, Going the Distance, that after his first defeat he was given Think & Grow Rich and that the book changed his life. Norton went on a fourteen fight winning streak that lasted over three years including a win over Muhammad Ali. --SD1991 21:22, 3 November 2007 (UTC)