The Best Books For Personal & Professional Development (Updated for 2018)
NAPOLEON HILL
Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American author in the area of the new thought movement who was one of the earliest producers of the modern genre of personal-success literature.
He is widely considered to be one of the great writers on success. His most famous work, Think and Grow Rich (1937), is one of the best-selling books of all time (at the time of Hill’s death in 1970, Think and Grow Rich had sold 20 million copies). Hill’s works examined the power of personal beliefs, and the role they play in personal success. He became an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1936.
“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve” is one of Hill’s hallmark expressions. How achievement actually occurs, and a formula for it that puts success in reach of the average person, were the focal points of Hill’s books.
According to his official biographer, Tom Butler-Bowdon, Napoleon Hill was born in a one-room cabin near the Appalachian town of Pound, in Southwest Virginia.Hill’s mother died when he was nine years old, and his father remarried two years later. At the age of 13, Hill began writing as a “mountain reporter” for small-town newspapers in the area of Wise County, Virginia. He later used his earnings as a reporter to enter law school, but soon he had to withdraw for financial reasons.
Some of the inspiring quotes by Napoleon Hill:
“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”
“No man ever achieved worthwhile success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.”
“Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.”
Think & Grow Rich: Book by Napolean Hill
Classic. Although I haven’t actually read the book, I’ve listened to the Audio series, 3 times. N.Hill is a classic, his experience is breathtaking.
Think and Grow Rich is a 1937 motivational personal development and self-help book by Napoleon Hill and inspired by a suggestion from Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie.
What Makes a Winner? THINK and GROW RICH is the Granddaddy of All Motivational Books and the first book to address the question What Makes a Winner? Through the encouragement and support of Andrew Carnegie, Napoleon Hill studied the most successful men of industry of his time in order to ascertain what traits each possessed. His findings are contained within The Laws of Success and later refined in Think and Grow Rich.
In THINK and GROW RICH, Napoleon Hill draws on stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and other millionaires of his generation to illustrate his principles. THINK and GROW RICH is an all-time best-seller, having sold 15 million copies worldwide, and set the standard for motivational thinking.
Dale Carnegie
Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (originally Carnagey until 1922 and possibly somewhat later) (November 24, 1888 – November 1, 1955) was an American writer, lecturer, and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Born into poverty on a farm in Missouri, he was the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936), a massive bestseller that remains popular today. He also wrote How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (1948), Lincoln the Unknown (1932), and several other books.
One of the core ideas in his books is that it is possible to change other people’s behavior by changing one’s reaction to them.
Dale Carnegie Course in Effective Speaking and Human Relations is learn-by-doing based program for individuals based on Dale Carnegie’s teachings. It was founded in 1912 and is represented in more than 80 countries. More than 8 million people have completed Dale Carnegie Training.
What Dale Carnegie says:
“The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules whose would you use?”
“The essence of all art is to take pleasure in giving pleasure.”
“I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn’t bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish.”
“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
How to win Friends and Influence People: Book by Dale Carnegie
I read this when I was about 14. Great. Leil Lownde’s How to Talk to Anyone is a more modern version.
How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold 15 million copies world-wide.
YOU CAN GO AFTER THE JOB YOU WANT…AND GET IT! YOU CAN TAKE THE JOB YOU HAVE…AND IMPROVE IT! YOU CAN TAKE ANY SITUATION YOU’RE IN…AND MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU!
For more than sixty years the rock-solid, time-tested advice in this book has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.
