Dozens of self-help books are published in the United States each year. Some are read and soon forgotten and eventually out of print, while others become classics. A classic book is a book accepted as exemplary or noteworthy and has stood the test of time. This is a list of what I consider to be the best classic self-help books.
5. Works by RHJ
Although not as well known as the other books on this list, “IT Works!” It was first published as a pamphlet in 1926 and has been in print ever since. The author is listed only as RHJ and RHJ was later found to be Roy Herbert Jarrett and little is known about him other than that he was born in 1874.
“Works!” She outlined a simple and doable plan to manifest his desires by focusing his thoughts. The simple yet powerful model as described in the book can be used to achieve anything you desire by focusing your thoughts, and has brought happiness and fulfillment to many. Virtually every book on goal setting and mind control published since “It Works!” They have followed the same basic ideas. And there is no better proof of validity than imitation!
4. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
The Richest Man in Babylon began as a series of pamphlets designed to teach financial prosperity and were distributed in large numbers by banks and insurance companies; the pamphlets were put together and published in book form in 1926. Each pamphlet tells a parable illustrating a different financial skill, such as saving, investing, becoming rich, etc.
The best known parable is that of Arkad “The Richest Man in Babylon”, who is asked by two of his childhood friends how he got rich and if he would teach them the same. He agrees and shares with them how he got rich. He tells them that he got rich when he decided that a part of everything he earned was his. He paid himself a tenth of everything he earned.
If this idea sounds familiar to you, many financial writers should have embraced this idea, particularly David L. Bach, best known for his Automatic Millionaire Series of motivational financial books.
3. The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
The Science of Getting Rich was published in 1910 by the Elizabeth Towne Company. It was written by New Thought Movement writer Wallace D. Wattles. The book explains how to overcome mental barriers and how creation, not competition, is the hidden key to attracting wealth.” Each of the seventeen chapters is short and to the point.
The Science of Getting Rich preceded similar and equally well-known books such as Charles F. Haanel’s The Master Key System (1912) and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (1937). It was a major inspiration for Rhonda Byrne’s best-selling book and film, The Secret (2006). In the 100 years since its publication, it has gone through many editions and remains in print by more than one publisher.
2. Earl Nightingale’s Strangest Secret
Not a book, but a recording of a weekly pep talk given to the Nightingales sales force, he owned an insurance agency at the time, The Strangest Secret, earned the first Gold Record for spoken word, with sales exceeding one million copies.
Nightingale, known as the ‘Dean of Personal Development’, reveals how he discovered and lived the secret to success. Demand for the recording was so high that Nightingale teamed up with Vic Conant to market the recording and is credited with starting the self-help/personal development field.
1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Considered by many to be the best self-help book ever published, Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, first published in 1937, is the end product of two decades of research by Napoleon Hill.
His research began when Hill was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie (the steel magnate then the richest man on earth) to put together a Philosophy of Personal Achievement. Hill, who was a poor journalist, received a letter of introduction from Carnegie and began interviewing over five hundred successful people, including Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, John D. Rockefeller, George Eastman, William Wrigley Jr. and Charles M. Schwab.
The result of Hill’s research was a correspondence course entitled The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons published in 1928. For more than seven years, Hill lectured on The Law of Success in virtually every city in the United States. Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, was based on the earlier The Sixteen Laws of Success and condensed the sixteen laws into 13 principles of personal achievement. As of 2011, over 70 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide. BusinessWeek magazine’s best-seller list ranked the book as the sixth best-selling paperback business book, and Think and Grow Rich is on John C. Maxwell’s “must-read” book list.