Think and Grow Rich: The Original Classic

Hill published in 1937 a book he claimed was built from twenty years studying more than five hundred wealthy men at Andrew Carnegie's suggestion. It sets out thirteen principles: desire, faith, autosuggestion, specialised knowledge, imagination, organised planning, decision, persistence, the master mind, the transmutation of sex energy, the subconscious mind, the brain, and the sixth sense.

The practical elements are the ones with lasting influence. Hill argues for a definite chief aim stated as a specific amount with a specific date and a specific service to be given in exchange, written down and read aloud twice daily. He argues for a master mind group, meaning a small group meeting regularly in a spirit of harmony toward a defined objective, which is the origin of the modern peer group and advisory board practice. He argues that persistence after apparent defeat is the differentiating trait, using the Darby story about a gold mine abandoned three feet from the vein.

The claims about the subconscious mind, autosuggestion and the sixth sense have no evidential basis and read as mysticism. The chapter on the transmutation of sex energy is dated and strange.

The biggest problem is Hill himself. Researchers have found no evidence that the Carnegie commission occurred, Hill's biography includes multiple fraud allegations and failed ventures, and the claimed interviews with named industrialists cannot be verified. The book's central mechanism, that thoughts materialise as physical conditions, is false as stated and encourages attributing outcomes to belief rather than to circumstance and effort. Its historical importance to the entire self-help industry is real and its specific practices around written goals and peer groups are useful independent of the framework.