A Lifetime of Riches: Revised Edition

When a man's writings affects you in a profound way, you want to know who that man is. That's the reason I acquired this book, and I can say to you that it satisfied my appetite for a greater understanding of who Napoleon Hill was. I could not put the book down. Now, it's not a very detailed biography which may disappoint some, but I was not out for details. My aim was to gain greater insight into the principles taught by Hill by examining how the man himself was able to apply them into his life. The book taught me 3 great lessons: 1 - No matter how bright you are, you cannot make it alone, Hill's greatest achievements were always the fruit of a collaborative effort. (1) `Think & Grow Rich' was written with the help of his second wife (2) the man was a bandit and would have remained one, had it not been for his step mother's diligence in reshaping his thinking (3) when He finally reached a stage of his life where he was disciplined enough to hold on to his gains and differentiate a sound undertaking from an unsound one (virtually by retirement age), it was mainly to be credited to his third wife. 2 - Succeeding for what? When you look at the man's story, you can't help but to wonder what was he after? Succeeding for the sake of succeeding doesn't make sense, there's got to be a reason for succeeding, life is more than just being successful. When you don't know where you going, you end up nowhere. This is something which took a long time (and a considerable amount of pain) for Hill to understand. But he did ultimately get it. 3 - When you realize that `whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve', which is a statement that contains a huge amount of truth in it, you also become exceptionally vulnerable to lack of pragmatism. It takes an immense amount of mental discipline, to find the right balance between big thinking and sound thinking, which is something that Hill lacked during the largest part of his adult life. Overall, I am very grateful for this biography and for the man's life and work. I can hardly overstate the extent to which it contributed to my personal growth. And I can't help but to recommend this book. I paid 25 ($ 35), and it was well worth it.

I read the other reviews of "A Lifetime of Riches" and I think most have missed a few points. I am a student of Napoleon Hill but and while there are reasons to have a high regard for him too many people judge him on the success of "Think and Grow Rich" and not his broad life. I believe "Think and Grow Rich" is a great book. However if you have ever taken the time to read "The Magic Ladder to Success" published in 1930, you will find the same message as "Think and Grow Rich". The reason for the overwhelming of success of "Think and Grow Rich" might be the Great Depression. When TAGR was published, the United States was just coming off of the depression and people were looking for faith that things could get better and a way to get there. None of Hill's subsequent books ever came close to achieving the notoriety of "TAGR". I think "A Lifetime of Riches" certainly proves that the myth of Napoleon Hill far overshadows the man. If you have ever read the full works of Hill and watched the videos of him that are available on YouTube it is clearly evident Hill was a highly egotistical man and I think this estranged him from those in his life. That is what I took from this biography of his life. I still admire him for creating his philosophy and his ability to overcome some pretty significant setbacks in his life. However, I honestly believe that had Hill not met up with W. Clement Stone, he would have been hard pressed to overcome those setbacks, have success in his later life and set up his foundation. Hill may have written the philosophy but Stone put it to work. If you are a student of Napoleon Hill read this book. I think it will give you some significant insight to his life.

I couldn't put the book down. Mr. Hill sure had a "roller coaster" of life, like so many of us experience. Think and Grow Rich is a classic and very well may of helped more people to financial success than any other book ever written. I have read and apllied it to my life. His persistence and focus on achieving his goals will have a major impact on the reader. The author did a wonderful job of sharing a lot of knowledge about Mr. Hill's life that completely blew me away.

Having been a student of Napoleon Hill for many years I find Hill's own writing both brilliant, and inspirational. Through this book I have come to learn Hill is human too, he had to learn some of his lessons the hard way. While the book lacks the brilliant motivational style of Hills own writing, we must remember that it is a biography. I question that Napoleon Hill could have been quite as honest about his life and some of its tragedies if he had written the book himself. A Lifetime Of Riches provides good insight to the life of the man who has been such an inspiration to so many people, myself included. It offers a chronological view of the life of Hill. Granted, some of the detail of Hill's actual formulation of the success philosophy is missing. Still, the book reminds us that we strive for progress not perfection. If we fall down we must get back up.My thanks to Mr Ritt, Mr Landers, and The Napoleon Hill Foundation for giving me the opportunity to have a greater understanding of Napoleon Hill.