Think and Grow Rich Review: What Still Works (and What Doesn’t)

Few money books have been pushed harder, quoted more, or aged more strangely than this one. So here’s a straight Think and Grow Rich review — not a hype piece, not a takedown. Some of what Napoleon Hill wrote in 1937 is still the best advice you’ll read on goals and persistence. Some of it is mystical nonsense you can skip without guilt. Telling the two apart is the whole game.

The short version

Hill spent two decades studying wealthy industrialists, supposedly at the suggestion of Andrew Carnegie, and boiled what he found down to thirteen principles. Desire. Faith. Persistence. Specialized knowledge. The “Master Mind.” His core claim: wealth starts as a definite idea you hold with enough intensity to act on it for years. Strip away the old-timey packaging and a lot of that is just early self-efficacy psychology, written before anyone had a name for it.

What still works

A few of these ideas have genuinely earned their keep.

Definiteness of purpose. Hill hammers on knowing exactly what you want — the precise amount, the date, the plan, written down. We’d call that goal-setting now, and decades of research back the basic point: vague intentions go nowhere, specific ones change behavior.

Persistence over talent. The whole chapter on persistence holds up. His “three feet from gold” story — a man who quit his mine right before hitting the vein — is corny, but the lesson lands. Most people stop early.

The Master Mind. Surround yourself with a small group of sharp, supportive people who push your thinking. Every mastermind group, peer board, and founder dinner running today is built on Hill’s idea.

Belief as fuel. Not magic. Motivation. If you don’t think something is possible for you, you won’t put in the years it takes. That part is just true.

What doesn’t

Now the parts to read with a raised eyebrow.

The mysticism. “Auto-suggestion,” the “sixth sense,” thoughts vibrating their way into money — Hill drifts somewhere closer to a séance than a strategy. Belief helps you act. It does not bend reality. Wanting a check badly enough has never summoned one.

The unverified backstory. Historians have never confirmed that Hill actually interviewed Carnegie or the “500 wealthy men” he leans on. Treat the anecdotes as parables, not evidence.

Survivorship bias, baked right in. The book studies winners and reverse-engineers their habits while ignoring everyone who did the exact same things and stayed broke. Luck, timing, circumstance — barely a mention.

The dated framing. There’s a chapter on “sex transmutation,” and a steady assumption that the reader is a man chasing a fortune. Very 1937. Take the underlying idea — channel your energy into your work — and move on.

Who it’s for

Read it if you respond to a kick in the pants and you can filter as you go. People early on, the ones who just need permission to want more, tend to get the most out of it. If motivational language makes you itch, or you’d rather have a research-backed system than a pep talk, you’ll be happier somewhere else.

Either way, pair it with something grounded. The Millionaire Next Door is the reality check — it shows that real wealth usually looks boring, built on saving and patience rather than burning desire. How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Magic of Thinking Big come from the same era and age better. And for the modern, evidence-based version of “small daily actions compound,” read our Atomic Habits summary and review — it’s the engine Hill was pointing at without the data to prove it.

Your action step

Don’t just read it. Use the one principle that costs nothing. Write down a single specific goal with a number and a deadline, then write the first action you’ll take this week. That’s “definiteness of purpose” in about five minutes, and it happens to be the part of the book that actually works.

You can see the full Think and Grow Rich edition we recommend here, or browse the rest of our best books to build wealth if you want a shortlist worth your time.