Boy Did I Remember This Wrong | Think And Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) BOOK REVIEW

Boy Did I Remember This Wrong | Think And Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) BOOK REVIEW

From Mere Mortals Book Reviews by Kyrin Down & Juan Granados

May 19, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

The episode reviews Napoleon Hill's 'Think And Grow Rich', contrasting its optimistic messages with its dated claims and pseudoscience.

The classic self-help book is a bit different than I remember.  In Napoleon Hill’s 'Think And Grow Rich' I discover it’s not quite the book I remembered. I walk through what still shines—its optimism, self‑analysis prompts and the motivational push that helped me as a younger bloke to build self‑confidence, set goals and act with intention. I share the quotes and practices that I used to use as inspiration for growth. Then I dig into the doozies: dated claims, sciencey overreach, baldness-by-hat myths, telepathy talk, name-dropping and a tendency to state opinions as facts. I contrast Hill’s inspiration-first approach with more modern, evidence-based self-help and explain why I’d now recommend reading it with a strong filter. Take the useful 50% and discard the rest. I wrap with some context on Hill himself and why timing likely supercharged the book’s impact post-Depression. Timeline: (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:55) Core promise: riches, goals, and optimism (00:04:25) Personal history: how the book helped in early 20s (00:09:16) Turning defeat into advantage: key quotes and reframes (00:12:35) Persistence, ambition, and study outside work (00:16:01) Where it falls apart…

People in this episode

Hosts: Kyrin Down, Juan Granados

Topics covered

  • self-help
  • personal development
  • book review
  • optimism
  • pseudoscience
  • goal setting

Keywords

  • Think And Grow Rich
  • Napoleon Hill
  • self-help
  • personal growth
  • pseudoscience
  • goal setting
  • optimism

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Think And Grow Rich

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